In a string of national upheavals, from “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the legal entanglements of the president’s daughter and son-in-law, Jamie Gorelick has been a steady hand amid crisis and controversy.

It’s a talent—and a resume—that’s helped make Gorelick into a “premier Washington practitioner,” says former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman, her friend and partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.