Biography.guide
Home › People › Lawyer › Hammond Chaffetz
Portrait of Hammond Chaffetz

Hammond Chaffetz

1907 – 2001

American lawyer

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About Hammond Chaffetz

Lived 1907 – 2001 (aged 93). Hammond Chaffetz was a lawyer.

Hammond E. Chaffetz (July 9, 1907 – January 12, 2001) was a federal prosecutor and partner at Kirkland & Ellis. He helped turn the law firm into one of America’s largest law firms.

Early life Born in Massachusetts, Chaffetz graduated from Harvard Law School in 1930.

Career He joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where he became a Special Assistant to the Attorney General, pioneering federal antitrust prosecution policies later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co.

Chaffetz had been recommended for the position by one of his Harvard Law School professors, future U.S. Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurter, however, had also recommended one of Chaffetz's classmates, future accused Soviet spy Alger Hiss, for the same position, and it was Hiss's decision to withdraw that Chaffetz believed opened the position to him. His brother was Maxwell (Max) Chaffetz, an FBI special agent whose grandson is former Congressman Jason Chaffetz, and his second cousin was Washington, D.C. real estate developer and philanthropist Morris Cafritz.

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Education
Harvard Law School

People in Hammond Chaffetz's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Hammond Chaffetz's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Hammond Chaffetz?

American lawyer (1907–2001)

When was Hammond Chaffetz born?

Hammond Chaffetz was born on 9 July 1907.

When did Hammond Chaffetz die?

Hammond Chaffetz died on 12 January 2001.

What was Hammond Chaffetz's occupation?

Hammond Chaffetz was a lawyer.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Hammond Chaffetz

· Wikidata: Q5645827

· DBpedia: Hammond Chaffetz

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Hammond Chaffetz. https://biography.guide/hammond-chaffetz/

MLA: "Hammond Chaffetz." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/hammond-chaffetz/.

Chicago: "Hammond Chaffetz." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/hammond-chaffetz/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Portrait: Wikimedia Commons · author & licence

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:02 UTC