Barr

• On July 26, the plea agreement was challenged by the judge in the case.
• She wanted to know more about any immunity being offered, given that Hunter Biden is under several federal investigations.
• From my perspective as a political scientist, I believe that while special counsels are intended to be independent, in practice they aren’t entirely.

Independent and special counsels

• President Richard Nixon did this during the investigation of the Watergate break-in, which threatened to implicate him in criminal acts.
• On the evening of Oct. 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, whom Richardson had appointed to lead the Watergate investigation.
• After passage of this legislation, if the attorney general received “specific information” alleging that the president, vice president or other high-ranking executive branch officials had committed a serious federal offense, the attorney general would ask a special three-judge panel to appoint an independent counsel, who would investigate.
• That year, then-Attorney General Janet Reno authorized the appointment of special counsels, who could investigate certain sensitive matters, similar to the way independent counsels operated.
• In 2020, John Durham – another veteran of the Justice Department – was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the investigation that triggered Mueller’s appointment.

Politicizing the process

• For instance, while special counsels operate independently of the attorney general, both their appointment and the scope of their investigations are determined by the attorney general.
• In contrast, the appointment of independent counsels and the scope of their investigations were determined by a three-judge panel, which in turn was appointed by the chief justice of the United States.
• Also, since Congress authorized independent counsels, presidential influence was limited by law.
• Sessions was later replaced by William Barr, who previously served as attorney general under President George H.W.

To be or not to be free of partisanship

• The independence of the Justice Department rests, in part, on who occupies the offices of president and attorney general.
• The second, Robert Hur, is overseeing President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president in 2017.
• As a result, the perception of political prosecution can be hard to avoid.
• This is an updated version of an article published Jan. 13, 2023, which was an updated version of an article originally published Dec. 14, 2022.

• Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its Litigation, Aviation, and Appeals & Legal Issues practices with the addition of Andrew Barr as a shareholder in the Denver office.
• DENVER, August 1, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its Litigation , Aviation , and Appeals & Legal Issues practices with the addition of Andrew Barr as a shareholder in the Denver office .
• Barr joins the firm from Cooley LLP where he managed a large docket of civil litigation, regulatory, and arbitration matters.
• He has represented clients facing a wide array of challenges across multiple industries and uses this experience to manage cases efficiently and pragmatically.

• JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK), a leading global data analytics and technology provider, has promoted Carrie Barr to president of Casualty Solutions and Aaron Brunko to president of Property Estimating Solutions.
• Barr joined Verisk as an account executive in 2010 and quickly advanced to leadership positions within sales and operations.
• In her new role, Barr will focus on driving greater efficiencies for clients through workflow automation, programmatic compliance and decision-support solutions.
• Brunko joined Verisk as a tech support agent in 2001 and served most recently as senior vice president of claims on the property estimating solutions team.

• Our history in technology goes back to day one, and as a group, were incredibly fortunate to see continued year-over-year growth both in terms of our team and revenue.
• Rounding out the promotions within the leadership team, the Technology group also upped Jen Stratton and Melissa Muskett to executive vice president.
• Stratton and Muskett are based in New York and will respectively work alongside the U.S. leadership team as senior-level counsels in consumer and B2B technology.
• Allison+Partners operates in 50 markets worldwide and is organized around five practices: Consumer Brands, Corporate, Reputation Risk + Public Affairs, Health and Technology.