Laura Jarrett was born on October 29, 1983, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and William Jarrett. She attended Amherst College, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Government, and later earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. 

Before transitioning into journalism, Jarrett had a distinguished legal career. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges, including a federal appeals court judge in Iowa, before working as a litigation attorney in Chicago. She then joined CNN in 2016 as a legal analyst and correspondent based in Washington, D.C., where she covered the Justice Department, the Supreme Court, and high-profile federal investigations.

Jarrett moved to NBC News in 2022 and, soon after, became the network’s Senior Legal Correspondent, succeeding veteran correspondent Pete Williams. She was later named the co-anchor of the Saturday edition of Today. She also frequently fills in as a co-anchor for the Today show and as a substitute anchor for NBC Nightly News, and she anchors and reports on NBC News special reports and special event coverage, such as Election Nights. 

Jarrett is married to Tony Balkissoon, a lawyer and former policy advisor. The couple married in 2012 and has two children together.