Laura Jarrett joined CNN in September 2016 as a reporter based in the Washington, D.C. bureau.

Prior to joining CNN, Jarrett worked as a litigation attorney in Chicago. In private practice, Jarrett focused on defending companies and individuals in government investigations brought by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as complex commercial litigation. Jarrett also devoted significant time to pro bono cases, including the representation of a sex trafficking victim who successfully used a new Illinois law to expunge her past convictions.

Prior to practicing law, Jarrett served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Rebecca Pallmeyer on the Northern District of Illinois and later for the Honorable Ann C. Williams on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jarrett attended Harvard Law School where she was Articles Selection co-chair, an Article Editor, and a Technical Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, and published her own articles on the intersection of gender, violence, and the law. Upon graduating in 2010, Jarrett was admitted to practice law in both state and federal court in Illinois.