In 1986 , Yates was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia . From 1986 to 1989 , Yates was an associate at the law firm King & Spalding in Atlanta , specializing in commercial litigation . In 1989 , she was hired as Assistant U.S. Attorney by Bob Barr for the U.S. Attorney 's Office for the Northern District of Georgia . Early in her career at the Department of Justice , Yates prosecuted a variety of types of cases including white-collar fraud and political corruption . In 1994 , she became Chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section . She was the lead prosecutor in the case of Eric Rudolph , who committed the Centennial Olympic Park bombing , a terrorist convicted for a series of anti-abortion and anti-gay bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998 , which killed two people and injured over 120 others . She rose to First Assistant U.S. Attorney in 2002 and to Acting U.S. Attorney in 2004 . In the U.S. Attorney 's office she held leadership positions under both Republican and Democratic administrations
Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Sally Yates