Ex-US AG Eric Holder Returns To Private Practice

By Mani
Updated on

Former U.S. attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., will return to law firm Covington as a partner after over six years of service as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

In an interview with the National Law Journal, he indicated that this is the ‘last stop’ of his career.

Eric Holder returns to the firm he had left earlier

Eric Holder was a partner at Covington from 2001 until February 2009, when President Obama appointed and the Senate confirmed him as the nation’s 82nd Attorney General.

Clearly pleased about rejoining the law firm, Eric Holder said: “Returning to Covington is like coming home. I couldn’t be happier to rejoin the firm and to have the opportunity once again to work with its exceptional lawyers and staff, for whom I have such high regard”. He added: “I am returning to Covington for the same reasons that drew me to the firm in the first place—its commitment to excellence in the service of clients, a collaborative and team-oriented culture, and a dedication to pro bono and public service”.

He will be resident in the firm’s Washington office and focus on complex investigations and litigation matters, including matters that are international in scope and raise significant regulatory enforcement issues and substantial reputational concerns.

Eric Holder was one of President Obama’s longest serving cabinet members and the fourth-longest tenured attorney general ever. His tenure as U.S. attorney general has been marked not only by advances in civil rights, but also battles with Republican lawmakers and some controversial comments. For example, in a speech he gave in 2009 for Black History Month, Eric Holder called the U.S. “a nation of cowards” in terms of talking about racial tension. He also ran into another controversy when he decided to try the Sept. 11 defendants in a courthouse near the site of the twin Towers.

Eric Holder won’t serve on the Supreme Court

In his interview to National Law Journal published Monday, Eric Holder ruled out the possibility of being nominated to the Supreme Court, indicating that if Hillary Clinton were elected president and offered him a spot, he would politely decline.

Earlier he was credited with creating the “too big to jail” designation, though last year he said “there is no such thing as “too big to jail”.”

Last February, for the first time, Eric Holder publicly made known his desire to prosecute those involved in potential fraud that former Fed chief Ben Bernanke called a financial disaster worse than the Great Depression.

Eric Holder closely follows the workings of the Justice Department, particularly the same-sex marriage ruling, which his department argued for before the Supreme Court. He was often at the center of national debates about race, civil rights and equality.

When he stepped down last April as the country’s top law-enforcement official, he indicated he wanted to take a cross-country drive to decompress. He half-jokingly said he put that off because the carbon footprint of his remaining security detail would be too big.

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