FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Thank you Mr. Chairman, Senator Baucus and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am honored to be President Bush's nominee to serve as General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury and I am particularly grateful to Secretary O'Neill for recommending me to the President. I also deeply appreciate the expeditious manner in which you have scheduled this hearing and the opportunity for my family to share in the proceedings.

More than twenty years ago, I interviewed for a job with Edward Bennett Williams who was to become my teacher and partner. He asked what makes a good lawyer. I responded, "eloquence." Williams shook his head. A lawyer's first, perhaps his greatest talent he told me is the ability to listen - "Only then will you know what to say."

That lesson has been the foundation of my twenty-three years of legal practice litigating criminal and civil trade, securities, tax and federal regulatory matters in courtrooms, boardrooms and in proceedings before committees of Congress. And it is a lesson that I will continue to honor as the chief legal officer of the Treasury Department.

I pledge to listen and respond, to the best of my ability, with well-founded scholarship, sound counsel and balanced advocacy in an open partnership with the staff and members of this Committee and Congress.

Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to you for bringing me before this Committee and respectfully ask that I be permitted to introduce my family to you and members of the Committee.