WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 14, 2005) – Venable partner Carol Elder Bruce was recently named Chair of the International Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers for 2005-2006.
The American College of Trial Lawyers is an honorary association comprised of experienced trial lawyers in the United States and Canada. The International Committee focuses on international law and practice, with an emphasis on litigation. Ms. Bruce, a partner in Venable’s commercial litigation and corporate defense/white-collar practice, has been a member of the International Committee since she was elected a Fellow of the College in 2001.
Ms. Bruce’s international experience includes not only representing foreign and domestic private clients in civil and criminal international legal disputes, but also a considerable amount of international pro bono legal assistance. Among other things, she has authored a bench book and provided trial advocacy training for judges and defense attorneys in Russia when that state reintroduced the jury trial. She provided similar training to Dutch defense attorneys representing the first Serbian to go on trial for war crimes before the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal. Ms. Bruce is currently leading Venable’s pro bono representation of three Egyptian Guantanamo Bay detainees designated by the Bush Administration as “enemy combatants” in a significant habeas corpus legal action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
In the course of her 30-year litigation career, Ms. Bruce has been lead counsel in a significant number of high visibility white-collar criminal investigations and trials and in major civil litigation matters. In addition to her years of representing individuals and private corporations as a private practitioner, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for ten years, a Deputy Independent Counsel in the investigation of Attorney General Edwin Meese, and as the Independent Counsel in the investigation of Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.
Ms. Bruce has received recognition for her trial advocacy skills. Most recently she was included in The Best Lawyers in America for 2005 and 2006, in the categories of commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense. In December 2004, Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Washington, D.C., and in June 2003, Legal Times named her one of the top twenty trial lawyers in Washington, D.C. Ms. Bruce received her B.A. from George Washington University, and her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. She is a member of the George Washington Law School Dean’s Board of Advisors.
One of the American Lawyer’s top 100 law firms, Venable LLP has attorneys practicing in all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, intellectual property and government affairs. Venable serves corporate, institutional, governmental, nonprofit and individual clients throughout the U.S. and around the world from its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and offices in California, Maryland, New York and Virginia. For more, visit www.Venable.com.