Karol Mason

Alston & Bird partner Karol V. Mason says she has accepted a key position in President Barack Obama's Department of Justice. Mason will be one of several deputies to Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli. She said Perrelli will have one principal deputy and four other deputies. Although deputies to the associate AG often supervise specific divisions or other areas of the Justice Department, Mason said she will not have a defined portfolio. "I do not have a litigation background," said Mason, "so I will work with [Perrelli] on special projects." A bond lawyer who is chair of Alston's public finance group, Mason was a member of the Obama campaign's national finance committee. Mason said she also was heavily involved in the campaign's voter protection efforts. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Mason was the Obama campaign's biggest Georgia-based bundler. A bundler is a campaign supporter who delivers the contributions of others to the campaign, and, according to the center, Mason delivered $500,000 or more to the Obama campaign. Other Georgia lawyers who served as Obama campaign bundlers include state Sen. David I. Adelman, D-Decatur, and Pinney L. Allen, who left Alston last year to become head of school for the Atlanta Girls' School. Mason said she didn't have her eye on a job in Obama's administration. "I wasn't working on the campaign to get involved in the administration," said Mason. Still, she said, "when the opportunity came, it was hard to say no, because I was committed to seeing him be successful. It's a wonderful opportunity to be part of history." Mason, 51, is a native of Amityville, N.Y., and received her law degree from the University of Michigan. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Alston Web site lists Mason as a partner in Atlanta and Raleigh, but she said her primary residence is in Georgia. Mason said she's scheduled to start her new job in late April.