The Honorable Thomas M. Boyd

Partner
Thomas Boyd

Tom Boyd focuses his practice on public policy and regulatory law. Tom counsels clients on privacy, financial services, electronic commerce, and a range of other legislative and regulatory issues. He advises on public policy matters before Congress as well as the executive branch, and guides clients through the increasingly complex obligations associated with financial and privacy-related regulatory compliance. Tom represents financial service companies, including banks, credit card issuers, insurance companies, online broker dealers, and other companies, including energy and aerospace companies.

Tom has extensive private sector and government experience. Prior to joining Venable, he spent ten years as co-chair of the government affairs practice in the Washington, DC office of a global law firm. After his government service, he served as deputy general counsel and managed the Washington, DC office for Kemper Corporation, a diversified financial services company. He ran the legislative affairs department of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the trade association for the mutual fund industry, as well.

Tom held several high-ranking government positions before entering private legal practice. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to serve as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legislative Affairs in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), headed the Department's Office of Policy Development under President George H.W. Bush, and was appointed by the secretary of homeland security to serve a three-year term as a member of that department's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee.

Tom has authored more than 50 legal and political commentaries and essays, most of which have appeared in law reviews and national publications, including the Washington Post, Reader's Digest, the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and the Boston Globe.

Experience

Government Experience

  • Republican counsel, Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Member, Department of Homeland Security Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee
  • Assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legislative Affairs, United States Department of Justice
  • Director, Office of Policy Development, United States Department of Justice

Representative Matters

  • Serves as counsel to the National Business Coalition on E-Commerce and Privacy, an organization of a dozen name-brand companies and associations, formed in 2000 to support the enactment of consistent state and federal laws and policies that encourage the growth of electronic commerce, in a way that achieves a reasonable and practical balance between the legitimate privacy interests of both business and consumers

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. University of Virginia School of Law 1971
    • Tazewell Taylor Scholar
  • B.A. History Virginia Military Institute 1968

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • California (inactive)

Clerk Experience

  • The Honorable A. Andrew Hauk U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Recognition
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  • The Best Lawyers in America, Government Relations Practice, 2023 – 2024
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Edmund J. Randolph Award
  • Delta Society, National Media Award
  • Chambers Global, Privacy and Data Security
  • Chambers USA
    • Government Relations
    • Privacy and Data Security
  • Legal 500, Media, Technology and Telecoms - Cyber Law (including data privacy and data protection)
  • Who’s Who in America