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Mark Filip
Mark Filip
United States Attorney General
	Acting; January 20, 2009 – February 3, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Michael Mukasey
Succeeded by	Eric Holder
33rd United States Deputy Attorney General
	In office; March 10, 2008 – January 20, 2009
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Paul McNulty
Succeeded by	David W. Ogden
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
	In office; February 8, 2004 – March 9, 2008
Appointed by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Harry Leinenweber
Succeeded by	Sharon Johnson Coleman
Personal details
Born	Mark Robert Filip; June 1, 1966 (age 58); Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA); Christ Church, Oxford (BA); Harvard University (JD)

Mark Robert Filip (born June 1, 1966) is an American lawyer specializing in class action and white collar criminal and regulatory defense. Formerly a partner at Skadden, Arps, he currently practices in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland and Ellis.^[1] From 2004 until 2008, Filip served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.^[2] As the George W. Bush administration ended, Filip served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and as the Barack Obama administration began he briefly served as acting attorney general (from January 20, 2009, to February 3, 2009).^[3]

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Filip attended Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, the same high school attended by Hillary Clinton. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in economics and history, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. After college, Filip went to England to attend Christ Church, Oxford, on a Marshall Scholarship. He graduated from Oxford in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in law with first-class honors. He then attended Harvard Law School,^[4] where he received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 1992^[2] and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.^[2]

After law school, Filip served as a law clerk to the Judge Stephen F. Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit^[2] from 1992 until 1993 and then for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court from 1993 until 1994.^[2]^[5]

Professional career

Filip worked in private legal practice as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis from 1994 until 1995.^[6] He then worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago from 1995 to 1999.^[5] In that position he prosecuted cases in the trial and appellate courts involving a variety of offenses—including violent crimes, political, judicial, and police corruption, health care fraud, and international narcotics trafficking.^[2] While an AUSA, Filip received a Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.^[2]

Following his service at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Filip was a partner in the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom from 1999 until 2004.^[2]^[5] There, he practiced in a variety of areas of civil law and criminal law, and also had a number of pro bono cases, including several cases representing indigent defendants in connection with the Federal Defender's Office in Chicago.^[2] Filip now is a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis.

Federal judicial service

On April 28, 2003, Filip was nominated by President Bush to be a United States District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois, to a seat vacated by Harry Leinenweber. On February 4, 2004, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination by a 96–0 vote.^[7] He received his commission on February 8, 2004^[5] and was sworn into office in March 2004.^[2] As a judge, he presided over numerous cases involving criminal, antitrust, securities fraud, immigration and other matters. Filip has taught for many years at the University of Chicago Law School,^[4] where he served from 2004 to March 2008 as the Bustin Lecturer and taught both advanced criminal law and first-year civil procedure.^[2] Filip resigned on March 9, 2008 to accept his role as the United States Deputy Attorney General.^[5]

Deputy attorney general and acting attorney general

Filip was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3, 2008,^[2] and he was sworn in as deputy attorney general on March 10, 2008.^[2] On August 28, 2008, Filip issued a memo regarding federal prosecution of business organizations,^[8] which reversed the Justice Department's aggressive policy of pursuing white collar crime. This came in the midst of a controversial case against KPMG,^[9] one of the Big Four accounting firms, for abetting AIG Financial Products in fraudulent transactions that would eventually contribute to the 2008 financial crisis. Filip was asked to assume the position of acting attorney general by then president-elect Obama.^[3] Filip led the department while President Obama's nominee, then attorney-general designate Eric Holder, awaited confirmation by the United States Senate.^[4] Holder was confirmed on February 2, 2009,^[10] and sworn in the next day^[11] thus ending Filip's tenure as the acting attorney general.

References

^ "Kirkland & Ellis LLP > Filip, P.C., Mark". www.kirkland.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "Acting Attorney General Mark Filip." United States Department of Justice. 20 January 2009. (Archived by WebCite at)
^ ^a ^b Staff reporter (2009-01-15). "Obama asks U.S. Attorneys to stay 'for the time being'". CNN Political Ticker. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-21. In addition, Obama's transition team has asked current Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, also a Bush appointee, to serve as Acting Attorney General replacing outgoing Attorney General Michael Mukasey.)
^ ^a ^b ^c Staff reporter (2009-01-21). "Bush Appointees Holding Down the Fort While Obama Nominees Await Confirmation". FOX News. Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-02-04. While Holder waits for his confirmation, Bush appointee Mark Filip is acting attorney general. A former U.S. District Court judge in Illinois, the native Chicagoan holds a law degree from Harvard and was a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Holder was supposed to have faced a confirmation vote on Wednesday, but scheduling conflicts necessitated a delay in the Senate.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Filip, Mark R. - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
^ "WTOP: Washington, DC's Top News, Traffic, and Weather". WTOP.
^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation Mark R. Filip, of Illinois, To Be U. S. District Judge)". Senate.gov. February 4, 2004. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
^ Filip, Mark (August 28, 2008). "Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations" (PDF). U. S. Department of Justice Office of the Deputy Attorney General Memorandum. p. 1.
^ Efrati, Evan Perez and Amir (2008-08-29). "U.S. Pares Its Arsenal in White-Collar Crime Fight". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
^ Staff reporter (2009-02-03). "Obama attorney-general confirmed". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-02-03. President Barack Obama's choice for attorney-general, Eric Holder, has been confirmed in the post by the US Senate.
^ Staff (n.d.). "USDOJ: Office of the Attorney General". US Department of Justice. Retrieved 2009-02-03. Eric H. Holder Jr. was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice-President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Mr. Holder on December 1, 2008.

External links

This article incorporates public domain material from Acting Attorney General Mark Filip. United States Government. Archived from the original on 2009-02-03.

Mark Filip at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
Kirkland biography
Presidential Nomination: Mark Robert Filip
Appearances on C-SPAN

Legal offices
Preceded by Harry Leinenweber	Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois 2004–2008	Succeeded by Sharon Johnson Coleman
Preceded by Craig S. Morford Acting	United States Deputy Attorney General 2008–2009	Succeeded by David W. Ogden
Preceded by Michael Mukasey	United States Attorney General Acting 2009	Succeeded by Eric Holder