William Thaddeus Coleman III

William Thaddeus Coleman III
Coleman in 1995
General Counsel of the Army
In office 1994–1999
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William J. Haynes II
Succeeded by	Charles A. Blanchard
Personal details
Born	1947 (age 76–77) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse	Allegra Saenz Coleman ​ ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	2 biological, 4 stepchildren
Parent(s)	William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. Lovida Hardin
Education	Williams College (BA) Yale Law School (JD)
Profession	Lawyer

William Thaddeus Coleman III (born 1947) is a United States lawyer who served as General Counsel of the Army during the Clinton administration.

Biography

Coleman was born in Boston on April 20, 1947, the son of William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. and his wife Lovida. He was educated at Williams College (B.A., 1970), and Yale Law School (J.D., 1973). During his first year at law school, he was befriended by fellow law student Bill Clinton and the two were roommates during their second year of law school. After completing law school, he served as a clerk for federal District Judge Edward T. Gignoux.

Coleman was admitted to the bar of Georgia in 1974, and has practiced law since then, most recently in Philadelphia. In the 1990s, when Bill Clinton became President of the United States, he appointed Coleman General Counsel of the Army. Coleman was the subject of a minor scandal in 1997 when he was accused of sexual harassment. An investigation into the allegations by the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense later concluded that, while Coleman had told some off-color jokes, he had not committed sexual harassment.

Coleman married his wife, Allegra Saenz Coleman, in 2003, and together the couple have two children: William Thaddeus Coleman IV and Amadeus Alexander-Browne Coleman. He also has four stepchildren.