Katayoun Copeland

Copeland was born in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania to an Iranian mother and an American father.^[2] She was raised in Iran from 1973 to 1980.^[2] She graduated from The Baldwin School in 1985.^[3] She completed an undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College.^[2] She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law. ^[2]

In 1992, Copeland joined the Delaware County district attorney's office as an assistant district attorney in its trial division.^[2] She worked under the county's first female district attorney, Patricia Holstein.^[2] She later became chief of drug enforcement in 2000.^[2] In 2004, she became deputy district attorney.^[2] In 2011, Copeland joined the United States Attorney as a prosecutor of drug cases.^[2] She worked under Louis D. Lappen, the acting district attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.^[2] In 2018, she returned to Delaware County as its district attorney.^[2] A Republican, she was selected by the county board of judges to succeed Jack Whelan.^[4] The term expired in 2019.^[4] She ran for election for a full four-year term in 2019 and was defeated in a close election by Democratic candidate Jack Stollsteimer.^[5] From 2019 to 2023, she served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia.^[6][7] In November 2023, Copeland announced her candidacy in the 2024 Pennsylvania Attorney General election.^[7]