George Terwilliger is co-head of the firm's white collar practice and leads the firm's Strategic Response and Crisis Management practice group. Following his fifteen years of public service in the US Department of Justice, where he began as a law clerk and concluded as Acting Attorney General, George has provided counsel in government and internal investigations, agency enforcement proceedings and in civil and criminal litigation. He has represented many of the nation's and the world's largest corporations, including major financial institutions, energy companies, public institutions as well as leading business and government officials, including members of the US Senate and House as well as cabinet officials. He has also represented lawyers and corporate legal departments in investigations. As a result of both his private sector work and government positions, George is called upon to provide counsel as well as commentary to government officials, Congress and private organizations on national security, homeland defense, terrorism, and other public policy and legal issues. George's work regularly involves providing counsel in the executive suites and boardrooms of major corporations.
In private practice for international law firms, George has represented national and international financial, energy, telecommunications, industrial and healthcare companies. He is a recognized expert in leading credible corporate internal investigations and his experience designing and executing both targeted and global legal compliance reviews has involved work in more than 60 countries around the globe. George is an expert on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and regularly provides counsel to companies addressing FCPA issues. No stranger to high stakes litigation and crisis events, George helped lead the Bush-Cheney legal team in the 2000 Florida vote recount, served as special outside counsel to a Senate committee investigating vote fraud allegations, served as counsel to an executive commission on gambling, and has represented many clients in politically charged election law and similar cases. He has guided corporations and individual through high stakes matters of intense public interest. He represented an incumbent president in First Amendment litigation concerning the right to have an inaugural prayer said in a public ceremony.
At the Department of Justice, George served for 10 years as a frontline federal prosecutor, handling hundreds of investigations, trials and appeals, including in white collar and national security cases. President Ronald Reagan appointed him as a U.S. attorney, and he next served as the deputy attorney general and as acting attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration. As Deputy Attorney General, George ran the Justice Department's operations, overseeing all the nation's federal prosecutors, as well as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. He also had leadership responsibility in several national and international crises, including a hostage-taking in a federal prison and the federal law enforcement response to domestic unrest in Los Angeles. In several instances, he personally handled negotiations of high-profile criminal and civil matters in the United States and abroad.
*****
A person listed as a contributor has spoken or otherwise participated in Federalist Society events, publications, or multimedia presentations. A person's appearance on this list does not imply any other endorsement or relationship between the person and the Federalist Society. In most cases, the biographical information on a person's "contributor" page is provided directly by the person, and the Federalist Society does not edit or otherwise endorse that information. The Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues. All expressions of opinion by a contributor are those of the contributor.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group and Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
TeleforumWhat Should be Done to Address Rising Crime Rates?
2017 National Lawyers Convention
The Mayflower Hotel - Grand Ballroom1127 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
Beyond the Yates Memo: A New Era of Enforcement?
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group
National Press Club529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045
Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2016?
Co-Sponsored by the Faculty Division and the Practice Groups
National Press Club529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045
Whither the DOJ?
Practice Groups Event
With recent changes in leadership at the Department of Justice, and still further changes imminent,...
Whither the DOJ?
Practice Groups Event
With recent changes in leadership at the Department of Justice, and still further changes imminent,...
Liberty Month Revisited: Defining a Legitimate Scope for the Federalization of Business Crime
This month we are sharing a selection of paired pieces from The Federalist Society's Liberty...
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group and Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced on Nov. 29 that the Department of Justice Foreign...
What Should be Done to Address Rising Crime Rates?
2017 National Lawyers Convention
We have seen two consecutive years of an alarming increase in violent crime, at least...