Carol Elder Bruce

Carol Elder Bruce is a litigator whose practice focuses on white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. Ms. Bruce represents individuals and corporations in criminal grand jury investigations, and in criminal and civil trials and appeals. She also represents clients in hearings and proceedings before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, in administrative proceedings within federal agencies, and in the conduct of internal corporate investigations. Ms. Bruce also advises companies on the creation and maintenance of effective corporate compliance and ethics programs. Ms. Bruce has been in private practice for more than 20 years, where she has been lead counsel in many white collar criminal investigations, civil and criminal trials, and congressional investigations. Ms. Bruce also has extensive civil litigation experience in complex commercial disputes and other matters, including significant class action experience wherein she has managed or has held a lead counsel role on both sides of such law suits.

Clients not only benefit from Ms. Bruce's experience, but also from the importance she places on guarding her clients' confidences, reputation, and privacy, particularly in high-visibility, high-stakes cases. Clients also benefit from her national reputation as a trial lawyer. In the the past five years several lawyer ranking services ranked her as being one of the best white collar criminal defense attorneys and commercial civil litigators in the District of Columbia and in the United States.

Ms. Bruce has been appointed to a number of public service positions in her career. She recently served as Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics in the investigation of matters concerning Senator John Ensign. Earlier, Ms. Bruce served as the Independent Counsel appointed by a special panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to investigate matters concerning Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. She previously served as the Deputy Independent Counsel in the investigation of matters concerning Attorney General Edwin Meese and also was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for 10 years, where she was lead counsel in more than 115 jury trials and managed the grand jury investigations and presentations of more than 100 additional cases.

Ms. Bruce is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, where she served for two years as Chair of the College's International Committee (2005-2007). She serves on the Honorary Board of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (2004 to date) and served on the George Washington University Law School Dean's Board of Advisors (2002 to 2012). Ms. Bruce also is a charter member of and Master in the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court and is a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America.

Professional/Civic Activities

• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (2001 to date), where fellowship is extended by invitation only to experienced trial lawyers within the top 1 percent of the trial bar in the United States and Canada. She served for two years as Chair of the College’s International Committee (2005-2007).
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) (2010 to date). Fellowship in the LCA is selective and by invitation only. "Fellows are selected based upon effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels, and superior ethical reputation."
• Member, Board of Directors, Council for Court Excellence (2013 to date).
• Member, Editorial Board of The Bulletin, the official publication of the American College of Trial Lawyers (2012 to date).
• Member, Honorary Board of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (2004 to date).
• Member, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Co-Chair at Large of the White Collar Crime Section (2009-2010); Vice Chair, White Collar Committee (2006-2008)
• Member, George Washington University Law School Dean’s Board of Advisors (2002 to 2012)
• Member, United States District Court’s Lawyer Counseling Committee (2002 to date)
• Charter member and Master in the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court
• Former Governor on the District of Columbia Bar’s Board of Governors; elected to two terms
• Former appointed member of the D.C. Bar Ethics Committee, where she drafted legal ethics opinions for the D.C. Bar
• Former co-chair, D.C. Bar Steering Committee on Courts, Lawyers, and the Administration of Justice; elected to two terms on the Committee.
• Member, Lawyers Club of Washington (1992 to date; President, 2006-2008) – a professional association of local trial lawyers and judges that has been in existence since the early 1900’s. Membership is by invitation only and is limited to 100 active lawyers as well as senior lawyers and members of the judiciary.
• Participant in the Coalition for International Justice ("CIJ") program at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ("ICTY") in The Hague to train senior, court-appointed Hague criminal defense lawyers in adversarial trial skills for defense of a case before a common law bench of the ICTY
• Participant in separate CIJ program in The Hague as an advisor to the full bench of the ICTY in a conference on proposed Rules of Evidence for the tribunal
• Participant in what was formerly known as the ABA Central and East European Law Initiative ("CEELI") (now CEELI is also known as the Europe and Eurasia Program) in a program to reintroduce the jury trial to Russia during President Yeltsin’s term of office. Ms. Bruce made several trips to Moscow and other Russian cities where she led and participated in training programs for Russian defense attorneys and judges on how to try an adversarial jury trial. As part of this program, Ms. Bruce was the primary author of the first draft of a jury trial bench book for Russian judges.
• Many pro bono representations of clients over the years, including the representation of three Guantanamo Bay detainees in habeas corpus proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
• Lay Leader, Trinity United Methodist Church, McLean, Virginia for six years between 2004 and 2011.

Achievements

• Listed in the Martindale-Hubbell® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™ - 2012 - a new listing in 2012, exclusively for women attorneys who have received the highest possible peer review rating, as Ms. Bruce has for 25 years, in both legal ability and ethical standards from their peers. Less than 5% of women lawyers have been recognized with an AV Preeminent Rating.
• Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5, for 25 years (1988-2013). (The highest possible peer review rating in legal ability and ethical standards).
• Named in June 2011 as one of ten “Champions” by the editors of The National Law Journal. Champions are those Washington, D.C. lawyers who have upheld the profession's "core values" through public service, pro bono efforts, and advocacy for civil rights.  Ms. Bruce was named for her recent service as the Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics in the Senator Ensign investigation and for her past work as an Independent Counsel and Deputy Independent Counsel in two separate investigations of two former cabinet officers in two different administrations.  
• Ranked by Chambers USA in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 among the top U.S. lawyers in Litigation:  White Collar Crime and Government Investigations (Washington, D.C.).
• Named as a "National White Collar Crime Litigation Star" and as one of the pre-eminent litigation practitioners in the United States.  Also named as a "District of Columbia White Collar Crime Litigation Star."  Benchmark Litigation, the Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys, 2010, 2011, 2012. Also listed in Benchmark Litigation’s Inaugural Top 250 Female Litigators in America, 2012.
• Named in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, as one of the “Attorneys Who Matter” by the Ethisphere Institute. Ms. Bruce was listed in all four years as one of 15 or 16 “Top Guns” nationally in the legal profession. She was ranked #3 on this list for three years straight – 2010, 2011, and 2012. This list recognizes lawyers who have risen to the top as outside counsel for corporations, based on their expertise, peer or client endorsements, participation in high-profile cases and overall litigation and administrative success. The review also factors public service records, legal community engagement and academic involvement and contributions. The research-based Ethisphere Institute is "a leading international think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability."
• Listed in Business Crime Defence 2010, 2011, and 2012, of Who's Who Legal, The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers; nominated for this listing after a canvas and analysis of the opinions of law firm clients and business crime defense lawyers from around the globe.  475 lawyers in 36 jurisdictions in the world were named in this business criminal defense listing as lawyers "who can truly be considered leaders in the field."
• Ranked in Best Lawyers in America®, U.S. News & World Reports, as one of the best lawyers in white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation, every year from 2005 through 2013.
• Ranked as one of the nation’s Top Ten Criminal Defense Lawyers in United States Lawyer Rankings for every year since 2006 through 2013. This ranking service reports that lawyers “are nominated for inclusion in the United States Lawyer Rankings by members of the Bar, Judiciary, and by the senior management of large corporate and institutional clients. . [and] . . . [t]he United States Lawyer Rankings was established as a consortium of United States corporations in order to recognize those lawyers who have consistently provided the highest degree of legal representation . …”
• Ranked in American Lawyer & Corporate Counsel Litigation Supplements, as one of the United States’ Top Commercial Litigation Lawyers, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
• Listed in Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers®, 2007-2009 and 2011-12, in white collar criminal defense and business litigation.Super Lawyers® “identifies the top 5 percent of attorneys in each state, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics.”
• Listed in a new Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers® list in 2013, as one of the top 50 Women Washington Super Lawyers 2013, the “Best of the Best.”
• Named as one of the "Stars of the Bar" in white collar criminal defense in D.C. (2011-2012) in Washingtonian Magazine; named as one of the "top lawyers" and “elite criminal defenders,” in D.C. in Washingtonian, December 2009.
• Named as one of the top 30 "Big Guns" lawyers in Washington, D.C. and listed as No. 8 of the top 30 "very best" Washington metropolitan lawyers from all general law practice areas, Washingtonian, December 2007, and named in the same issue as one of the "great criminal defense attorneys" in the Washington, D.C. area under "You're Under Arrest," Washingtonian, December 2007.
• "Top Washington Lawyer" in white collar criminal defense, Washingtonian, December 2004.
• One of only 20 trial lawyers named as the top Washington, D.C. litigation lawyers in the "Leading Lawyer" series, Legal Times, June 2003.  The editor-in-chief of the Legal Times reported that, in selecting the leading lawyers, "[o]ur aim was to find the lawyers who are top of mind for clients, and highly respected by judges and other lawyers."
• Recipient of one of the 2007 Beacon of Justice Awards from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association for Ms. Bruce's pro bono representation of Guantanamo Bay detainees.
• Recipient of one of the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights, November 2007.
• Recipient of the Belva Ann Lockwood Award given to distinguished woman alumnae from George Washington University Law School, 2005.
• Recipient of the Jacob Burns Award for Extraordinary Service to the George Washington University Law School in October 2009, an annual award that "honors that person who has actively assisted the Law School in its academic and civic mission."
• Recipient, Attorney General’s Special Commendation for Outstanding Service in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, July 1981.

Speaking Engagements

• July 28, 2011 Seminar for clients: A Crash Course on the New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -Whistleblower Protections, presented with financial services and government enforcement partners
• November 11, 2010  Webinar:  Minimizing Your Risks Under the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions, with Rosemary Alito and Matt T. Morley
• December 15, 2010 Webinar: Target on Pharma and Medical Devices:  A New Enforcement Environment (Expanded use by DOJ of Traditional and New Statutes to Prosecute Corporations and Individuals), with John Russell, Steven Kowal, Michael Hinckle, and Michael Gordon.