Not many lawyers have the honor of heading the nation’s Ministry of Justice during their lifetime. To receive this privilege twice? Then you must be William Barr. Born in New York to college teachers, Barr is the 85th U.S. Attorney General. Here is a brief outline of his career and personal life.
William Barr – Biography
William Barr was born on May 23, 1950, in the cosmopolitan city of New York as the son of Donald Barr (a Jew who later converted to Roman Catholicism) and married Margaret. Young Will grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
After graduating from Columbia, Will worked for the CIA for four years – between 1973 and 1977 – after which he was employed by Judge Malcolm Wilkey at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
On May 3, 1982, he joined the White House at Regan as a domestic policy officer. He held office for just over a year before he ventured into private practice for the next nine years.
When President George H. W. Bush came to power, Barr was appointed to the Department of Justice to provide legal counsel to the President and other executive officers as Assistant Attorney General. He was later appointed Assistant Attorney General in May 1990 and Attorney General in November 1991.
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Education
You cannot become Attorney General of the United States twice without walking through the halls of some of the nation’s most important educational institutions. Will is eager to learn and conscientious, qualities he brought with him early in life, probably due to his parents’ experience in the academic field. His father, Donald Barr, was a lecturer at Columbia University, where he taught English literature, and at one point he was head of Dalton School in Manhattan for a time. His mother also taught at Columbia University.
The young William Barr attended the Catholic-led Corpus Christi School in Upper West Side Manhattan and then transferred to the Horace Mann School, an Ivy Preparatory School League in the Bronx.
After high school, young Barr enrolled at Columbia University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in government in 1971. He earned his postgraduate degree in 1973, also at Columbia University, specializing in government and Chinese studies.
Will was interested in law and attended the Law School of George Washington University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1977.
William Barr Net Worth
Beyond the civil service, Barr has had a successful career in corporate law and private practice, and his resume is truly impressive in all respects.
From 1994 to 2000, after his first assignment as Attorney General, William Barr served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for GTE Corporation. From 2000 to 2008, he held the position of Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the tech giant Verizon, overseeing the legal and regulatory aspects of the company. After retiring from Verizon, he served as a consultant to major corporations and also served as a legal counsel and litigator for DC-based Kirkland & Ellis.
It is no surprise, however, that Barr is a wealthy man. His shares in Bank of America are worth between 500,000 and 1 million dollars. He holds exquisite stocks and shares in some of the most successful national companies, including Citigroup, General Motors, AT&T Inc., Dominion Energy, Inc. Bristol Myers Squibb, Vector Group (VGR), J.P. Morgan, Altria Group, Merck & Co., Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, among others. During his time at Kirkland & Ellis, Barr earned $1.2 million per year.
Although his exact net worth is difficult to determine based on his stated assets and liabilities, his net worth will be several miles away from the $20 million marks.
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Family
William Barr was born the son of Mary and Donald Barr, both faculty members at the prestigious Columbia University. He has three brothers about whom little is known.
William married Christine Moynihan in 1973, and the couple is blessed with three children. Very little information is available about Barr’s children, except for one – Mary Dally. Mary is an attorney and former state attorney whose responsibilities included prosecuting drug dealers and notorious gang members in the New York area, an activity she pursued for thirteen years.
After it became apparent that William Barr would return to his post at the Department of Justice, rumors about potential conflicts of interest arose, which consisted in his having to be essentially the “boss” of his daughters.
Daly was appointed director of the Department of Opioid Enforcement and Prevention – a position that was taken over in December 2017 by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the office of the U.S. Deputy Attorney General.
Following her father’s appointment, she was appointed to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). However, the issues surrounding a potential conflict of interest have not been fully resolved since it has become publicly known that Tyler McGaughey, Barr’s son-in-law, has joined the White House law firm.
