Neil MacBride

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title: "Neil MacBride" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "American lawyer (born 1965)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_MacBride" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American lawyer (born 1965) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Neil MacBride
image	Neil H. MacBride, Treasury General Counsel.jpg
office	General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury
president	Joe Biden
term_start	February 22, 2022
term_end	June 28, 2024
predecessor	Brian Callanan
successor	Brian Morrisey
office1	United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
president1	Barack Obama
term_start1	September 18, 2009
term_end1	September 13, 2013
predecessor1	Chuck Rosenberg
successor1	Dana Boente
birth_date
birth_place	Schenectady, New York, U.S.
party	Democratic
alma_mater	Houghton College
University of Virginia
::

|name = Neil MacBride |image = Neil H. MacBride, Treasury General Counsel.jpg |office = General Counsel of the United States Department of the Treasury |president = Joe Biden |term_start = February 22, 2022 |term_end = June 28, 2024 |predecessor = Brian Callanan |successor = Brian Morrisey |office1 = United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia |president1 = Barack Obama |term_start1 = September 18, 2009 |term_end1 = September 13, 2013 |predecessor1 = Chuck Rosenberg |successor1 = Dana Boente |birth_date = |birth_place = Schenectady, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |party = Democratic |alma_mater = Houghton College University of Virginia Neil Harvey MacBride (born October 14, 1965) is an American attorney who served as 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 University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law.

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. He also served as a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. 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.

In November 2020, MacBride was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition 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. He resigned in June 2024.

References

References

1. (November 21, 2013). "Davis Polk Welcomes Former U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride".
2. Jennifer Koons. (August 22, 2013). "Eastern Va. U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride Stepping Down". Main Justice.
3. McCullagh, Declan. (January 23, 2009). "Obama picks BSA's antipiracy enforcer for high-level post | Politics and Law - CNET News". News.cnet.com.
4. "United States Attorney's Office - Welcome to the Eastern District of Virginia".
5. (July 19, 2012). "Megaupload: U.S. Government Trying to Rewrite the Rules".
6. (June 15, 2012). "New Zealand's High Court Steps Into Extradition Fight Over Kim Dotcom".
7. (April 15, 2012). "Government trying to deny Megaupload fair legal representation".
8. (April 19, 2013). "Megaupload says US trying to change rules to allow prosecution".
9. (June 14, 2012). "Retired judge joins fight against DoJ's "outrageous" Megaupload seizures".
10. (May 19, 2013). "NZ spies knew Kim Dotcom shouldn't have been spied on, did it anyway".
11. "Agency Review Teams".
12. (June 3, 2021). "President Biden Announces Key Nominations".
13. (February 9, 2022). "PN615 – Neil Harvey MacBride – Department of the Treasury 117th Congress (2021–2022)".
14. "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Neil Harvey MacBride, of Virginia, to be General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury)".
15. "Neil H. MacBride". United States Department of the Treasury.
16. "3 Things To Know About The US Treasury's Exiting GC". Law360.

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