Heather Pearlman
Deputy Director of the Constitutional and Specialized Torts Branch
U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division
Heather Pearlman is Deputy Director of the Constitutional and Specialized Torts Branch in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, where her primary responsibility is managing litigation arising under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. Her entire professional career has been dedicated to public service; following law school, she spent several years working as a legislative counsel on Capitol Hill, moving to the Department of Justice’s Office of Legislative Affairs in 1999 to serve as an Attorney Advisor. In June 2001, she began working as a Trial Attorney defending Vaccine Act cases. She has handled all aspects of Vaccine Act litigation at the Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. From 2001 through 2008, she also oversaw the adjudication of thousands of claims brought under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, by individuals who became ill while living downwind of the Nevada Test Site during periods of atmospheric nuclear testing. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993, and her Juris Doctor from Roger Williams University School of Law in 1996. She is admitted to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia.
