Former U.S. Treasury GC Joins Sidley Austin
By Lawdragon News | July 17, 2014 | Press Releases
New York — Sidley Austin LLP announced today that George W. Madison, former general counsel of the Department of the Treasury, has joined the firm as a partner in its global Banking and Financial Services practice. He will reside primarily in the firm’s New York office but will maintain an office in the firm’s D.C. location as well.
Mr. Madison served as the general counsel of the Department of the Treasury from September 2009 through June 2012. He was appointed to this role by President Obama and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. As general counsel, Mr. Madison was the chief law officer of the Treasury Department and a senior policy advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner. He was highly involved in the formulation of the Dodd-Frank legislation, as well as many of the related regulations that have since been implemented under this legislation. Mr. Madison also oversaw the Treasury Department’s legal division made up of approximately 2,000 lawyers and 1,600 staff within the Treasury Department’s headquarters, the Internal Revenue Service, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Bureau of the Public Debt, the Financial Management Service, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, the United States Mint, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Between April and September 2009, Mr. Madison served as counselor to Treasury Secretary Geithner pending his confirmation as general counsel.
“While at the Treasury Department George was responsible for overseeing a number of important initiatives, including those related to money laundering and economic sanctions enforcement, and the formation of federal agencies under Dodd-Frank including FSOC, the CFPB, FIO, and OFR,” said William Eckland, a global practice coordinator of Sidley’s Banking and Financial Services practice. “We look forward to working with George and drawing on his wealth of knowledge gained from direct involvement with significant enforcement and regulatory matters. This, combined with our team’s strong existing capabilities, will allow us to provide clients with enhanced counsel regarding compliance and enforcement issues.”
Prior to his role at the Treasury Department, Mr. Madison was the executive vice president and general counsel of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), where the corporate governance and compliance functions reported to him in addition to the legal division. He also served as legal advisor to its three boards of trustees and overseers. Before this he served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Comerica Incorporated. Previously, Mr. Madison was a partner at a global law firm where he focused his practice on banking and structured finance law on behalf of foreign and domestic money center banks. Early in his career he was a summer associate at the former Brown & Wood, which is now Sidley Austin LLP.
Mr. Madison has participated in various programs related to the U.S. financial system and the financial crisis at the New York University’s Stern School of Business and Columbia Law School. He also has lectured on complex financial instruments, including collateralized debt obligation, collateralized loan obligation and derivatives.
“George’s knowledge of and experience in the banking and financial industries combined with his years as general counsel at the Treasury Department during the financial crisis will allow him to provide clients with a well-informed perspective on how to handle complex issues such as ‘bet the company’ litigation, compliance and regulatory investigations,” said Michael J. Schmidtberger, managing partner of the firm’s New York office. “We welcome George to Sidley as he engages with our talented team here and with the talented lawyers in our Banking and Financial Services practice around the globe.”
Earlier in his career, Mr. Madison served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. He has also been the recipient of numerous awards. Mr. Madison gave the keynote address at the 2011 Columbia Law School commencement ceremony and in 2012 was honored by Columbia Law School with the Lawrence A. Wien Award for Social Responsibility. He also received the Treasury Department’s Alexander Hamilton Award, which is the highest award that the Treasury Department can give.
With more than 1,800 lawyers in 18 offices worldwide, Sidley has built a reputation as a premier legal adviser for global businesses and financial institutions. For the fourth consecutive year, and every year since the survey’s inception, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2014 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” survey. On Law360’s list of Global 20 Firms, Sidley was ranked among the top law firms “with the greatest global reach and expertise.” To stay up-to-date with the latest Sidley news, please follow us on Twitter at @SidleyNewsroom or download the Sidley Mobile App.
