Christopher Meade Confirmed as Treasury Counsel


WASHINGTON – Christopher J. Meade was confirmed by the United States Senate yesterday evening to serve as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s General Counsel.  In this role, Meade will be the chief legal officer of the Department and the principal advisor to the Secretary and other senior Treasury officials on legal and policy matters.  He will also head the Treasury Legal Division, which includes the consolidated legal staff of the Department of the Treasury.



Since March 2010, Meade has served as Principal Deputy General Counsel.  In that position, he has advised the Secretary on legal issues ranging from domestic and international economic affairs, terrorism finance and financial crimes enforcement, tax policy, ethics, administrative law, and government law.  He has served as Acting General Counsel since June 2012.
 


“For three years, Chris’s sound judgment and deep knowledge have made him a tremendous asset to Treasury and the Administration,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said.  “His impressive grasp of a wide set of legal and policy matters ranging from the tax code to terrorism finance has been and will be vital as we move forward with initiatives of immense scope and complexity.  I am delighted the Senate took action on this critical nomination.”
 
Prior to joining Treasury, Meade was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, LLP in New York.  Earlier in his career, he served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and to Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.   
 


Meade received a B.A. from Princeton University, magna cum laude, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law, magna cum laude, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.  He is married to Stella Schuhmacher and has a daughter, Nora, and a son, Elliot.