Quiet Counsel: Looking Back on a Life of Service to the Law

"We all should heed the lessons I've learned and what I continue to believe: the law, properly applied, is a powerful force for good in our society."

In this thoughtful and candid memoir, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Larry D. Thompson explores the big questions of his life and career, from his childhood in Hannibal, Missouri to his time advising the nation's most powerful figures in government and business leadership.

With a strong belief in the principles of the U.S. Constitution and a desire for cooperation across ideological, social, and racial lines, Thompson rose through the ranks in both government and corporate practice. His career trajectory touches on some of our most pressing issues. As Deputy U.S. Attorney General under President George W. Bush, he guided the administration through complex questions concerning privacy and security. As counsel for PepsiCo, Inc. and the Compliance Monitor for Volkswagen, he weighed in on important debates about corporate responsibility. And as a successful Black man with a moderate approach to politics, he has had to confront issues of diversity and justice in modern America.

Quiet Counsel is a collection of Thompson's personal and legal philosophies, a series of considered arguments for becoming a safer, fairer, and better nation through the legal system. In an era where the loudest debaters dominate our political and social conversations, Thompson proves that sometimes the quiet voice is the one most worth heeding.

Larry D. Thompson is the former Deputy U.S. Attorney General (2001-2003), the second highest ranking position in the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also served as Executive Vice President, Government Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at PepsiCo, Inc., and as the John A. Sibley Chair of Corporate and Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law.

In 2002, during Thompson's tenure as Deputy Attorney General, Attorney General John Ashcroft named him to lead the Department of Justice's National Security Coordination Council. Also in 2002, President George W. Bush named Thompson to head the government-wide Corporate Fraud Task Force. In 2017, he was appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice as the Independent Corporate Compliance Monitor and Auditor for Volkswagen AG. Thompson holds a BA from Culver-Stockton College, a MA from Michigan State University, and a law degree from the University of Michigan. He lives in Georgia.