Larry Thompson (lawyer)

Larry Dean Thompson
Born	(1945-11-15) November 15, 1945 Hannibal, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Attorney, academic
Years active	1970s–present
Known for	Deputy Attorney General of the United States, Independent Counsel for HUD investigation, Thompson Memorandum

Larry Dean Thompson (born November 15, 1945) is an American attorney and academic who held the position of Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George W. Bush until August 2003.

Early life and education

Born in Hannibal, Missouri to a father employed as a railroad worker, Thompson earned his bachelor's degree cum laude from Culver-Stockton College in 1967. He then obtained a master's degree from Michigan State University in 1969, followed by a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan in 1974.

In 1970, he married Brenda Anne Taggart, and together they have two sons.

Corporate career

While attending law school, Thompson held a position as an industrial relations representative at Ford Motor Company. Upon graduation, he worked as legal counsel for Monsanto Company in St. Louis until 1977. Subsequently, he joined the Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding, departing in 1982 to serve a four-year term as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. After completing this role, he returned to King & Spalding in 1986 and became a partner.

In 1991, Thompson contributed to Clarence Thomas’s legal defense team by helping formulate the approach to counter Anita Hill's allegations. He left King & Spalding in 2001 to reenter public service as Deputy Attorney General.

U.S. government service

Between 1982 and 1986, Thompson fulfilled duties as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia and directed the Southeastern Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The New York Times characterized him as "a moderate" who earned respect across party lines.

Independent Counsel

From 1995 through 1998, Thompson served as Independent Counsel overseeing the Department of Housing and Urban Development Investigation, carrying forward an inquiry begun by Judge Arlin Adams in 1990.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General

Appointed Deputy U.S. Attorney General by President Bush in 2001, Thompson was affiliated with the Federalist Society at that time.

Thompson Memorandum

In January 2003, Thompson introduced the Thompson Memorandum, an internal Justice Department directive designed to guide federal prosecutors when considering whether to charge corporations alongside individual defendants. The memorandum mandated that companies (1) reveal materials from internal investigations, (2) waive attorney–client privilege, and (3) refrain from providing company-funded attorneys to targeted executives as evidence of cooperation. These rigorous provisions drew criticism for compromising attorney-client confidentiality. In December 2006, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty issued a revised version that relaxed some of these stipulations.

Career after Department of Justice

Thompson departed the Justice Department in August 2003 and subsequently spent a year as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He then joined PepsiCo in Purchase, New York, serving as senior vice-president for government affairs and general counsel. Since 2011, he has held the John A. Sibley Professorship in Corporate and Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he teaches courses on corporate responsibility and white collar criminal law and participates on the Dean Rusk International Law Center Council.

Following John Ashcroft's resignation in 2004, Thompson was widely considered for the role of Attorney General—a position that would have made him the first African-American to lead the Justice Department—but ultimately Alberto Gonzales was chosen. His name also arose as a possible Supreme Court nominee to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and again as a candidate for Attorney General after Gonzales's departure in 2007. Politically, he endorsed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani during the 2008 presidential campaign and was identified by the American Bar Association as a potential Attorney General or Supreme Court justice under a prospective John McCain administration.

On April 21, 2017, Thompson was designated by the U.S. government as independent corporate monitor tasked with supervising compliance reforms at Volkswagen AG over a three-year period.

Thompson and his wife Brenda are distinguished collectors of African American art; in 2012, they donated artworks and endowed a curatorial position at the Georgia Museum of Art. Their collection was showcased in an exhibition there in 2017.

Since 2020, Thompson has served on the Board of Curators for the Georgia Historical Society.

See also

• George W. Bush Supreme Court nominees