Eileen O'Connor
Ms. O’Connor is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Pillsbury, and leader of the firm’s federal tax controversy and tax policy team. Ms. O’Connor joined the firm in July 2007 from the United States Department of Justice, after nearly six years as Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, a position to which President George W. Bush appointed her, and the Senate confirmed her, in 2001. From its inception in July 2002 until she left the Department, Ms. O’Connor was a member of the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force.
As head of the Tax Division, Ms. O’Connor oversaw the litigation—civil and criminal, trial and appellate—of its approximately 350 attorneys. Significant litigation during this time included, among other things, hotly-contested and high-profile trials concerning the promotion and use of corporate and individual tax shelters. In addition to supervising the Tax Division’s litigation, Ms. O’Connor personally represented the United States in oral argument before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits. To stem the rising tide of tax fraud, while preserving the possibility of the defendants' eventual indictment and conviction, in 2001, Ms. O'Connor created and implemented a program to coordinate civil and criminal investigative and judicial proceedings. The program continues to this day, and, under her leadership, resulted in the Tax Division’s obtaining more than 240 injunctions from United States District Courts across the country.
At the conclusion of her service with Justice, the Attorney General awarded Ms. O’Connor the Edmund J. Randolph Award for Outstanding Service, the Justice Department’s highest award. The award is named for the first Attorney General and recognizes outstanding contributions to the accomplishment of the Department’s mission. The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and the IRS Chief Counsel also bestowed their highest awards to Ms. O’Connor at the conclusion of her service in recognition of her contributions to the federal tax system.
Early in her career, Ms. O’Connor was a corporate tax law specialist with the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service. And for more than 20 years, Ms. O’Connor, who is also a CPA, was a national tax consultant with several top national accounting firms. She has taught in the graduate tax law program of Georgetown University School of Law, and was Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Tax Policy at the George Mason University School of Law.
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