Jeff Modisett is teaching The Legal & Political Importance of the State Attorneys General in Fall 2022. His practice and research lie in the criminal, civil and regulatory enforcement of state attorneys general. He advises clients on a number of AG-related issues including antitrust, consumer protection, privacy, and political relationships.

Modisett received his B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA, and his J.D. from Yale Law School. He also received his M.A. from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.

Modisett has been the elected Attorney General for Indiana, the Prosecuting Attorney for Marion County (Indianapolis), IN, and an Asst. U.S. Attorney in the Central District of CA, where he was Deputy Chief of the Public Corruption & Govt. Frauds Unit. He is currently Special Counsel at Sullivan & Triggs LLP, and was recently CEO of Nextlaw Global Referral Network, an award-winning legal referral network. Previously, Jeff was Sr. Counsel at Dentons US LLP (where he founded the State Attorneys General Practice Group) and served as Chief Legal Officer for a fin-tech company. Modisett was also the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. He simultaneously acted as Co-Chair of TechNet, a Silicon Valley “grasstops” organization focused on issues important to the New Economy.

As Attorney General, Modisett became a key negotiator for the states' settlement with Big Tobacco. He was a member of the 1997 states negotiating team that reached a preliminary settlement with the tobacco industry, which called for historic changes in the way cigarettes are marketed in this country. He was also chairman of the 1998 Allocation Committee created by the state attorneys general to devise a formula for distributing the US$205 billion settlement to each of the states and territories. In 1998 and 1999, Jeff helped lead the states’ effort to reform the sweepstakes industry to better protect consumers, especially the elderly.

Honors and Awards

• Consistently named one of Southern California’s Super Lawyers, Los Angeles and Law & Politics magazines
• Named one of the top 100 lawyers in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Business Journal
• Voted one of the top lawyers in Indiana, Indianapolis Monthly magazine
• Special Advisor to the Himalayan Cataract Project (cureblindness.org)

Publications

• “Prosecuting Mike Tyson: Boxing with the Media,” Ethnographies of Law and Social Control: Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 6
• “The States and Gaming: A Brief Look at the Past, Present, and Future Through the Eyes of a Former Attorney General,” Gaming Law Review
• “Cyberlaw and E-Commerce: A State Attorney General’s Perspective,” Northwestern University Law Review
• “Law and Ethics in Cyberspace: Who Will Lead?,” San Francisco Chronicle