Neil Harvey MacBride (born October 14, 1965) is an American attorney who is the
General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury in the
Biden Administration. He previously served as the
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed MacBride's nomination as U.S. Attorney on September 15, 2009, and he took office three days later. He left office on September 13, 2013.
Early life and education
MacBride was born in
Schenectady, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and the humanities from
Houghton College and a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from the
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...
.
Career
Prior to his appointment by President
Barack Obama, MacBride served as an
associate deputy attorney general at the
Department of Justice.
MacBride formerly served as vice president, anti-piracy and general counsel, of the
Business Software Alliance,
where he oversaw global anti-piracy enforcement and copyright policy. Prior to that, he served as staff director and chief counsel to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2001 to 2005. From 1996 to 2001, MacBride was an Assistant
United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the
District of Columbia.
Before his stint in public service, MacBride practiced law with the Washington, D.C., law firm of
Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, Chartered. He also served as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge
Henry Coke Morgan, Jr.
Henry Coke Morgan Jr. (February 8, 1935 – May 1, 2022) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Education and career
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Morgan received a Bachelor of S ...
in the Eastern District of Virginia.
He is a barrister with the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court and serves on the board of advisors of the Center on Law & Security at New York University.
He was the lead prosecutor in the
Megaupload controversy. He is also responsible for filing motions in the Grand Jury investigation of
WikiLeaks.
In November 2020, MacBride was named a volunteer member of the
Joe Biden presidential transition
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week o ...
Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the
United States Department of Justice.
Nomination to be general counsel
On June 3, 2021, President Biden nominated MacBride to be the next general counsel of the Department of the Treasury. The
Senate's Finance Committee held hearings on his nomination on September 22, 2021. On December 16, 2021, the committee voted to favorably report his nomination to the Senate floor. On February 9, 2022, the entire Senate confirmed MacBride's nomination by a vote of 61–33. He was sworn in on February 22, 2022.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macbride, Neil
1965 births
Houghton University alumni
Living people
New York University faculty
United States Department of the Treasury officials
United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia
Virginia lawyers
Virginia Democrats
Biden administration personnel