Steven Bradbury

Former General Counsel

U.S. Department of Transportation

Steven Bradbury

Former General Counsel

U.S. Department of Transportation

Steve Bradbury served in the Trump Administration as the Senate-confirmed General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from November 2017 until January 2021. As the Department’s chief legal officer, he oversaw all of DOT’s rulemaking and enforcement actions. During his time at DOT, he also served as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation and briefly as the Acting Secretary of Transportation.

During the Bush 43 Administration, Mr. Bradbury served as the Principal Deputy and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. As the head of OLC from 2005 to 2009, he advised the President and the Executive Branch on a wide range of constitutional and statutory questions and received the Edmund J. Randolph Award and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, among other awards.

Aside from government service, Mr. Bradbury has been a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and at Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C., where his practice focused on regulatory enforcement and investigations, rulemaking and judicial review of agency actions, appellate cases, and antitrust matters.

Mr. Bradbury clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court and for Judge James L. Buckley on the D.C. Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Michigan Law School and received his B.A. from Stanford University. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and lives with his wife in Tysons, Virginia.

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Contributions

Deep Dive Episode 226 – Due Process Protections in Agency Enforcement Actions

June 30, 2022

Steven Bradbury, Sheng Li, and Beth Williams provided an update on Polyweave Packaging v. Buttigieg and discussed the case’s implications for administrative rulemaking and due process.

Listen to this podcast

Due Process Protections in Agency Enforcement Actions

June 30, 2022

Steven Bradbury, Sheng Li, and Beth Williams provided an update on Polyweave Packaging v. Buttigieg and discussed the case’s implications for administrative rulemaking and due process.

Watch this video

Deep Dive Episode 113 – Executive Orders on Guidance: Implications and Next Steps

May 28, 2020

In this episode, experts discuss a 2019 executive order that imposed a series of restrictions and requirements on Federal agencies, and even included a requirement that agencies publish their guidance on the internet.

Listen to this podcast

Deep Dive Episode 55 – Regulatory Reform Report Card: Agency General Counsel Perspective

May 28, 2019

In this episode, General Counsels from a number of federal agencies take stock of the current administration’s regulatory reform agenda two years on.

Listen to this podcast
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