News + Events
Richmond Partner Ashley Taylor on the Rise of the State Attorneys General
Corporate Crime Reporter
July 30, 2009
Richmond partner Ashley Taylor was the subject of a July 30
Corporate Crime Reporter article about the rise in power of state attorneys general, which also mentioned the American Bar Association’s annual meeting session that Taylor moderated the following day in Chicago.
According to Taylor, attorneys general are attuned to political winds: “The office requires you to be both a lawyer and a politician. Everything happens in the context of a political backdrop. You have to read every activity against that political backdrop. These office holders are both very good lawyers and very good politicians.”
Taylor also said: “The advantage of being a U.S. Attorney is pretty obvious – you have the Department of Justice behind you, but as a state Attorney General, you have complete autonomy. You have the ability, without reporting to anyone, to decide what you are going to focus on.”
“You wake up in the morning and if a business practice troubles you, you can act that day against the company and have the company respond.”
To read the article in its entirety, please click
here.