According to reporting in Bloomberg, Mr O’Connor has been assigned to President-Elect Trump’s transition team as the person in charge of steering staff picks for the Department of Justice. The in-house heavyweight is no stranger to Washington, having held several key roles in the administration of former President George W Bush. In 2008 and early 2009, Mr O’Connor served as associate attorney general of the United States – the third most senior position within the DoJ. He also served stints as deputy associate attorney general, chief of staff to the attorney general and chair of the DoJ intellectual property task force.  

In-house heavyweight

Multibillion-dollar investment firm Point72 is the successor to hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, which in 2013 plead guilty to insider trading allegations and paid a record $1.8bn in fines. Mr O’Connor joined the company as general counsel in June 2015 from aircraft manufacturer United Technologies, where he served as vice president of global ethics and compliance. He was also a formerly a partner at Bracewell (formerly Bracewell & Giuliani, before the departure of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in January this year). Mr Giuliani is also a member of President-Elect Trump’s transition team.

Future leadership role?

As pointed out by Bloomberg, the appointment of Mr O’Connor to the future president’s transitional team may foreshadow a future leadership role for him in the new administration. For example, the person appointed to oversee DoJ transitions prior to President Obama’s first term in office, David Ogden, was later named deputy attorney general.

Sources: Bloomberg; Corporate Counsel