the office

Director Lisa Foster of the Office for Access to Justice Delivers Remarks at the Texas Fair Defense Act 15th Anniversary Symposium Celebration




the office

Director Lisa Foster of the Office for Access to Justice Delivers Remarks at the ABA’s 2016 National Meeting of State Access to Justice Chairs




the office

Sleeping in the Office

A growing number of unwanted offices in Southampton are being turned into flats, offering new opportunities for city-centre living.




the office

White-Collar Companies Race to Be Last to Return to the Office




the office

Back to the office? Here's what Indiana's reopening plan means for office workers

As Indiana moves into a phased reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, the state is encouraging office workers to continue working from home.

       




the office

The office as we knew it is dead

  • The coronavirus crisis has proved that companies can remain productive over Zoom. 
  • Remote work will become more common than ever, which will mean fewer people head to the office. 
  • Office designs will change to be centered around collaborative work, and there could be a revival of the suburban office. 
  • To read more stories on the future of the office, click here.

Coronavirus has changed the office forever.

The dense, urban, open-floor plan office has been the defining feature of offices over the last 20 years, with tightly packed flexible-office and coworking locations from companies like WeWork the biggest exemplars of the trend. A recent report by JLL found that up to 70% of all office spaces in the first quarter of 2020 were mostly or partially open floor offices. 

These sorts of offices are nightmares for the transmission of a virus that feeds on density, and they may end up as artifacts of the pre-pandemic start of the 21st century. Remote work, rumored to be waiting in the wings to kill the traditional office since the invention of the fax machine, has finally had its day. 

CEOs, like James Gorman at Morgan Stanley and Jes Staley at Barclays, have questioned the need for their pre-virus office square footage. They've had success running their businesses totally remotely, so why not save a couple of bucks on one of their biggest costs.

But the office won't die altogether. Instead, as the workplace has countless times before, it will evolve.

The evolution will begin with the short-term solutions that will make offices safe before a coronavirus vaccine. These changes will act like a bridge to the future of the workplace: some of these short-term changes will stick and some will eventually look as quaint as this photo of a masked-typist clacking away on a typewriter during the Spanish Influenza epidemic. 

The long-term evolution of the office will be decided in the coming months and years, as companies rethink their business plans to be flexible and resilient to retain productivity in a crisis.

While the loss of life and psychological pain of the pandemic, and the economic crisis following in its wake, are staggering, businesses are seeing it as an opportunity to make foundational changes to how and where they operate.

The choices that companies make now will decide what the office looks like in five years.  

Read more: The coronavirus is a 'nuclear bomb' for companies like WeWork. 10 real-estate insiders lay out the future of flex-office, and how employers are preparing now.

Remote work is here to stay

We're in the midst of the largest work-from-home experiment ever, which will likely be the beginning of a "paradigm shift" towards remote work. Executives and workers alike have seen first hand that business operations can continue online. 

A recent Colliers survey found that 4 in 5 employees hope to work remotely at least once a week after the coronavirus crisis ends. A Gartner survey this March found that 74% of 317 CFOs, half of which oversee the financials of companies with revenue above $1 billion, plan on shifting some employees to permanent remote work. 

Some organizations have already changed their remote work guidelines: Zillow's 5,000 employees will be able to work remotely at their discretion through the end of the year. Others, like Refinitiv, Tradeweb, Nationwide, and the aforementioned Barclays and Morgan Stanley, are signaling that their guidelines will also change. 

"We used to joke about meetings that could have been emails, but now we'll wonder why we can't just do them in our pajamas with our pets on video conference," Nancy Dubuc, Vice Media Group CEO, told Business Insider. "There's a balance of course because some work is actually more productive and better done in person, but it will never need to be 5 days a week, all day every day again."

When these companies begin to shift their business models to accommodate remote work, the office will change. They may cut back on individual workspaces and increase investment in collaborative spaces, turning the office into a cultural and training hub.

"This (more remote work) means adapting some of the office structure to help this way of working succeed, with even more video facilities and more flexible group spaces for brainstorming sessions," Luke Ellis, CEO of investment manager Man Group, told Business Insider

Most leaders aren't considering going fully remote. Instead, they're going to use office space differently, and could potentially even cut back on space. PR giant BCW Global's CEO Donna Imperato is considering taking less office space as more employees work remotely, for example.

"I'm not sure we'll go back to office seating," she said. "We won't need as much real estate because more people will start working from home. That's a cost saving, and they become more productive." 

Read more: The CEO of the third-biggest PR firm BCW lays out how the company will outperform its peers in a tough year

Arnold Levin, director of strategy for the southwest at leading architecture and design firm Gensler, told Business Insider about one health insurance client that had been looking to cut down on their 500,000 square foot office portfolio before the pandemic. Levin produced a plan that utilized desk-hoteling to cut the footprint down to 320,000 square feet, and presented it over a video chat in the midst of the lockdown. 

The CEO told Levin that their workforce had been so effective at working remotely that they actually would prefer to cut back on an all individual workspace in their offices. They're now planning to operate in one 80,000 square foot office building, using it for training, large meetings, and to entertain clients. 

Read more: What to expect when you're back in the office: 7 real-estate experts break down what the transition will look like, and why the workplace may never be the same

Why remote work won't kill the office completely

If every company were to shrink their footprint as drastically as Levin's client, the commercial office market would crumble. This is unlikely to happen for a couple of reasons. For one, if less people came into the office, but offices became less dense to make social distancing possible, companies might still need just as much office space. 

"We, like everyone else, have dreams of reducing our real estate footprint," MSCI CEO Henry Fernandez told Business Insider. However, that dream is constrained by the realities of social distancing.

"The flipside of that is whatever real estate you occupy, you will consume a lot more of it because we have to social distance," Fernandez said.

A whitepaper by Michael Colacino, president at office space company SquareFoot, walks through the reasons why he thinks that the reduction in office space likely won't approach the roughly 25% decrease that's estimated by some experts.

Executives, already most likely to work remotely before the pandemic, would have to give up their dedicated office space, which is usually much larger than a typical employees. Other employees would have to turn to hot-desks (desks that are on a first-come-first-serve basis) and shared workspaces instead of offices or assigned desks.

Hot-desking would lead to an almost-unsolvable coordination problem: how do you make repeatable schedules that prevent the office from getting too crowded while also making sure that the correct people are in the office for any in-person activities, like trainings or meetings? Hot-desking also requires a large amount of cleaning to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Without workers going remote full-time, the office space won't be able to shrink much. Colacino's model predicts that space demand will shrink about 5%. Given the long length of leases and the high costs associated with breaking a lease or finding a subletter, this shrinkage will happen over a horizon of years, blunting the impact.

Read more: Major tenants are delaying big leases in as they re-think their office space needs for the post-coronavirus world

How do we make offices safe?

Before the advent of a coronavirus vaccine, the near-term return to the office will require lots of operational and technological changes to prevent spread of the virus. The psychological effects of the crisis, and the reality that global catastrophic events are likely to become more common as a result of climate change, means that these changes won't disappear once the virus becomes a distant memory.

"What is going to be the long-term imprint psychologically on any of us?" Levin from Gensler said. "We wake up in the morning, we hear about the virus and we hear about the death tolls. We go to bed, we hear about the death tolls."  

Offices may not feel safe even after a vaccine, and it will be up to companies to make employees feel safe. After 9/11, office buildings in major cities began to add turnstiles and security desks to prevent potential terrorist attacks, and surveillance increased in pretty much every public space. This sacrifice of privacy for security will happen in the office after coronavirus.

Surveillance in a pre-coronavirus office largely meant the watchful eye of a manager trying to see who is scrolling Instagram at their desk or watching a daytime baseball game in the corner of their computer monitor.

After coronavirus, surveillance will include everything from temperature checks at a building entrance to the mandatory installation of contract-tracing applications on an employee's smartphone, all of which are allowed under legal guidance offered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Center for Disease Control, according to a Goodwin Procter legal analysis. 

In China, 80% of Class A office buildings are requiring temperature checks at the entrance to the building to prevent the spread of the virus, according to a JLL report

Artificial intelligence company Landing AI has developed demo software that uses video to flag inadequate social distancing in the workplace in real time. AI-enabled video surveillance and utilization monitoring sensors are likely to become much more common.  

The limiting factor for a lot of these changes is their cost, magnified by the economic tightening underway right now.  

"(The costs) add insult to injury within the environment we're operating in," Andrew Sucoff, chair of Goodwin Procter's Boston real estate practice.

Read more: Mandatory temperature-taking is largely seen as a critical way to return workers to offices. But some big NYC landlords are worried about its effectiveness.

The return of the suburban office

Some businesses are considering alternating desks or erecting temporary barriers in the short-term. In the long-term, companies are considering everything from erecting walled, private offices to moving to suburban office spaces. 

A forthcoming report by Dr. Victor Calanog, head of commercial real estate economics for Moody's Analytics REIS traces the last time the suburban office came into, and out of vogue.

In the 1980s, with crime at approaching record highs and federal and state aid to city budgets shrinking, there was a professional-class exodus from the city to the suburbs. Corporations followed suit on a slightly delayed time scale, given the length of typical office leases: from 1989 to 1997, suburban market inventory expanded 1.7 times faster than inventory in cities's central business districts. 

By 1997, suburban office vacancies were 1.8% lower than central business district vacancies, and by 1998, the Building Owners and Managers Association said that the suburban office will be the top real estate investment of the next five to ten years. 

That did not come to pass. City budgets increased, crime fell, and professional workers began to move back to the city. Simultaneously, internet technology and increasing office density lowered demand for office space. The city became the ideal location for office space once again. 

This cycle may repeat itself, with the pandemic replacing crime and budgetary constraints. After 9/11, Morgan Stanley moved employees to offices in Westchester County, New York a suburb outside Manhattan. Before the total coronavirus lockdown, Morgan Stanley moved traders back to the same office again. 

Why is this time different?

The death of the office has been foretold for a while now, but hasn't come to pass.  Dr. Calanog told Business Insider that people have been theorizing the death of the office since the arrivals of the fax machine and the internet.

Levin, from Gensler, told Business Insider that consultants thought the Great Recession would be the catalyst for the future of the office, where "everyone will be like Google." 

The mood at the time is best summed up by a Rahm Emmanuel catchphrase from 2009, by way of Macchiavelli and a pit stop with Naomi Klein: "Never let a crisis go to waste."

"People had short-lived memories," Levin said. "Some changed, but a vast majority went back to cramming as many people into a space as possible." 

This time is different, says Dr. Calanog, because of the international scope of the change and the duration of the shock, which still has no obvious end date. 

Levin said that, instead of focusing on tactical changes or the ideal model for the future office, he's asking clients deep questions about their goals and principles and the threats to their current business model. 

"The best thing is to avoid clever trends and quick fixes, and have organizations face this new reality," Levin said. 

Levin said the organizations that are using this time to realign their business model to be more adaptable will be the most successful going forward. Any changes they make to their office and workplace should flow from that realignment.

"I think organizations are going to see more of a connection with a need to change their business models and how the workplace connects to that for the first time."

SEE ALSO: What to expect when you're back in the office: 7 real-estate experts break down what the transition will look like, and why the workplace may never be the same

SEE ALSO: Mandatory temperature-taking is largely seen as a critical way to return workers to offices. But some big NYC landlords are worried about its effectiveness.

SEE ALSO: 'We should be prepared for a new normal': 3 real estate experts on how the coronavirus is transforming offices and accelerating the rise of industrial property

Join the conversation about this story »

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the office

Guy Fieri loves John Krasinski and 'The Office' as much as you do

Guy Fieri — one of the most popular celebrity chefs— has spent nearly 15 years starring in and hosting entertaining culinary shows. But one of Fieri's favorite things to watch on television isn't food-focused. It's the workplace comedy, The Office.

That's right, the Mayor of Flavortown is obsessed with the employees of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. And much to his delight, he recently got to team up with one of the show's former stars, John Krasinski, to help lift spirits and raise money for restaurant workers in need.

Fieri guest starred on the potluck episode of Some Good News, in which Krasinski invited famous chefs to cook viewer-submitted recipes on video chat. Fieri made a "Dynamite," which has Big Sloppy Joe Energy. And then Krasnski surprised him by announcing a $3 million PepsiCo donation to his Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance to restaurant workers impacted coronavirus. Read more...

More about The Office, John Krasinski, Guy Fieri, Tv Shows, and Some Good News




the office

CBD News: UN decades on biodiversity and desertification launched in Addis Ababa Addis Ababa/Montreal, 27 July 2011 - The United Nations system joined together at the offices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa on 22 July




the office

What If You Don't Want to Go Back to the Office?

Source:

For Jeff Anderson, working from home during the pandemic has offered a break from office politics. But as the push to reopen the country's economy intensifies, so do feelings of dread at the idea of returning to the office, said Anderson, a self-described introvert and anthropology professor. And Anderson isn't alone. A Gallup poll found that most U.S. adults working from home would prefer to keep doing so "as much as possible" after the...






the office

It’s the office




the office

DeVos May Bypass Congress to Get Rid of the Office for English-Learners. Can She?

The answer is unclear but "the threat is real," English-language-learner advocacy groups say. The advocates say the Education Department has evaded their questions about the future of the office of English-language acquisition.




the office

Guy Fieri loves John Krasinski and 'The Office' as much as you do

Guy Fieri — one of the most popular celebrity chefs— has spent nearly 15 years starring in and hosting entertaining culinary shows. But one of Fieri's favorite things to watch on television isn't food-focused. It's the workplace comedy, The Office.

That's right, the Mayor of Flavortown is obsessed with the employees of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch. And much to his delight, he recently got to team up with one of the show's former stars, John Krasinski, to help lift spirits and raise money for restaurant workers in need.

Fieri guest starred on the potluck episode of Some Good News, in which Krasinski invited famous chefs to cook viewer-submitted recipes on video chat. Fieri made a "Dynamite," which has Big Sloppy Joe Energy. And then Krasnski surprised him by announcing a $3 million PepsiCo donation to his Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance to restaurant workers impacted coronavirus. Read more...

More about The Office, John Krasinski, Guy Fieri, Tv Shows, and Some Good News




the office

Coronavirus - Returning to the office: back to normal? - UK

This week, the Government intends to set out its “road map” to “unlock the economy” and get people back to work. Therefore, in the not too distant future (hopefully sooner rather than later for the majority), businesses will ...




the office

What if You Don't Want to Go Back to the Office?

For Jeff Anderson, 61, working from home during the coronavirus pandemic has been a respite from office politics and the chatter around the copy machine.But as the push to reopen the country's economy intensifies, so do feelings of dread at the idea of returning to the office, said Anderson, a self-described introvert and anthropology professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York."Just walking from the parking lot to my office I feel like I could be sick," he said. "It's that bad."In wanting to work alone, Anderson is not alone. People other than introverts view a return to the office with sadness and anxiety, and not just because they still risk getting infected. A Gallup poll found a majority of U.S. adults working from home would prefer to continue doing so "as much as possible" after the pandemic.These fans of online work worry that they -- and the country itself -- will lose important benefits discovered during this unprecedented experiment in mass remote work. People who have never liked schmoozing with colleagues have found new heights of productivity away from meetings and office chitchat. People worried about climate change are eager to reduce their carbon footprints by avoiding commutes by car. And while many parents are desperate for schools and day care centers to reopen, some working parents are appreciating more time with their children.Before the pandemic, Christine Reilley had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to catch an early bus to Manhattan where she works as senior director of strategy and innovation for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers."I'm better rested. I can devote more time to my work," she said. "Just saving the time and money of commuting, I really like this personally."Impossible for Some and 'Overrated' for OthersIt did not take long for naysayers to declare that working from home was "overrated."And yes, it is an option mostly for white-collar office workers. Telecommuting is rarely possible for people in manufacturing or service jobs, and for the health workers, emergency responders, grocery store clerks and delivery people who have been deemed essential personnel. And the more than 30 million Americans who have lost their jobs since March may be impatient about complaints from people still drawing paychecks.Nor can the other downsides be denied. Trying to meet on Zoom from a kitchen table with bored children and annoyed spouses complaining in the background is hardly good for productivity. Women say that video calls make it harder for them to get in a word during meetings dominated by men. This crisis has also increased the burdens on working mothers.Telecommuting was already a growing trend that left out many low-wage workers and was viewed warily by employers who worried that people were slacking off at home. Researchers warned that problem solving and creativity suffer when workers are isolated from one another. Isolated work can lead to loneliness and boredom. Remote workers have also reported they have had to work even longer hours.OK, So What Are the Benefits?For remote work to be successful, employers need to provide the right equipment and other support, said Laurel Farrer, chief executive of Distribute Consulting, a business consulting firm. And the employees must be able to get work done without supervision. If set up properly, experts and advocates say, remote work has many benefits:-- Less time on the road. Commuting by car has been linked to increased stress, more pollution and respiratory problems. The average American who drives to work spends 54 hours per year stuck in traffic, according to an analysis by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.-- Greater productivity. One well-known study from 2014 led by Stanford professor Nicholas Bloom examined remote workers at a Chinese travel agency and found that they were 13% more efficient than their office-based peers.-- A cleaner environment (maybe). According to estimates from Global Workplace Analytics, a research and consulting firm, if everyone in the United States worked remotely half the time, it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle travel by more than 51 million metric tons a year. Graphics showing the reduction in air pollution and pictures of clearer skies over cities like Los Angeles have been among the silver linings of the pandemic. Of course, when people return to work, the roads may fill up again, especially if people fear getting the virus on public transit. And even if more people start working remotely, they might use their cars more for errands closer to home, said Bill Eisele, a senior research engineer at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Office commuters make up only about 18% of all traffic, he said.-- Money saved. Global Workplace Analytics estimated that people could save, on average, $2,000 to $6,500 every year by not spending on things like gasoline and day care. Companies could spend less on real estate. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office estimated it saved more than $38 million in 2015 by not using as much office space, according to a Harvard Business School working paper from November.-- More job satisfaction. A 2005 study found that job satisfaction increased with each additional hour people spent working remotely. But it stopped increasing beyond 15 hours worked remotely.-- Less sickness. Even as companies consider reconfiguring workplaces with plexiglass barriers on desks and special air filters, letting employees work from home can help keep them safe from communicable diseases (and not just COVID-19).-- More time for fitness. You may be able to squeeze in more workouts. "Having a little more time, if you're using it wisely, can be very beneficial," said Marilyn Skarbek, an assistant professor of exercise science at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. "There are a lot of other things you can do around the house to keep you moving: laundry, cleaning -- all of that keeps you active. My house is definitely cleaner than normal." But there is a risk you could be more sedentary, she warned.Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, predicted that workers will be looking for the "happy medium," splitting time between remote work and showing up at the office. The hope is that the pandemic will have shown managers that workers can be trusted to do their jobs without constant supervision."Any kind of flexibility is something that people are really, really ripe for, just some control over where and when they work," she said.Happy Tales From the Home OfficeMany people who had never considered this kind of working life have now had a taste of it, and they love it.Jacquie Benetua-Rolens, communications and engagement coordinator at Santa Cruz Community Health Centers in Santa Cruz, California, has a 2-year-old son who has become a daily part of Zoom meetings with colleagues, waving at them in his pajamas."There is this softened, unfiltered, more honest version of ourselves that I'm enjoying getting to know," Benetua-Rolens said. "There is room to be forgiving and understanding with each other and ourselves. And it's because we've all had to juggle."Benetua-Rolens said she often thinks of her small cubicle back at the office, which she decorated with plants and pictures of her two children."I used to love it," she said. "But I don't miss it at all. I don't want to go back to that even though my house is filthy."Jessica Keup, a 37-year-old single mother and a computer programmer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, moved to her parents' home in rural Tennessee with her 3-year-old son in mid-March, after her company told employees to work from home.Since then, she has been coding from the deck while her son plays with the goats, chickens and peacocks that roost on the vast property.Keup said the solitude has made her more focused and more productive. Her work is not interrupted by chatty colleagues who want to say hi or need help fixing a computer glitch."The people who are in the office who are extroverts stand out and talk a lot and can take the oxygen out of the room," she said.At least one poll from early in the pandemic suggests a strong preference for remote work. Gallup found that almost 60% of Americans working from home would prefer to work remotely "as much as possible" after restrictions are lifted, with 40% saying they preferred to return to the workplace. The online survey of 2,276 randomly selected adults was conducted from March 14 through April 2. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.At the very least, some workers would like to see employers put lessons of the pandemic into practice, including more compassionate management in general.Rico Sisney, who works for Greenpeace USA, said he would like to continue seeing the kinds of emails his organization has been sending lately encouraging employees to take walks and small breaks."Organizations can continue that even when there is not a pandemic," Sisney said. "Highlight mental health."Christine de Denus, a chemistry professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, said she has relished the quiet of working from her porch. She thinks workplaces should adapt to all styles of working."Go to the people and say, 'How can I help you thrive?'" de Denus said. "Just because I'm quiet in a meeting doesn't mean I don't have ideas."When the time comes to return to the office, Keup said she plans to ask if she can work two to four weeks a year from Tennessee."It's beautiful. It's resting and restorative," she said. "And I'll miss that."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company





the office

Ranjit Chowdhry death: The Office star and 'towering icon' of Bollywood dies aged 64

Actor starred in both Bollywood films and US dramas




the office

The Office US stars offer fans chance for virtual coffee date

So far, four of the show's recurring characters have teamed up with fundraising site Omaze for the event




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Statement from Matthew A. Miller, Director of the Office of Public Affairs, Regarding Issuance of the National Research Council’s Report on Forensic Science

We appreciate the diligent work of the National Research Council’s committee on forensic science in preparing this report. The Department of Justice’s principal focus in dealing with forensic evidence is on applying it dispassionately to law enforcement challenges, and we regularly use forensics to not only convict the guilty, but also to exonerate the innocent.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Attorney General Eric Holder at the Semi-Annual Conference of the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT) Resident Legal Advisors and Foreign Service Nationals

"Helping foreign countries improve their criminal justice systems so they can cooperate more effectively with us and with their neighbors in real time is an important aspect of this department’s mission."




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Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich Announces Leadership Team in the Office of Legislative Affairs

Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs today announced two new members of the Office’s leadership team. Mark D. Agrast and Judith Appelbaum have been appointed as Deputy Assistant Attorneys General.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli at the National Conference for the Office of Safe and Drug-free Schools

"People who actually work in law enforcement, and people who actually work in our nation’s schools, know that our jobs are closely interwoven. When their neighborhoods and homes don’t feel safe, our children have a tough time paying attention in school. And when our children are not engaged at school, they’re going to be much more likely to get into trouble outside of it."




the office

Attorney General Eric Holder Welcomes Christopher H. Schroeder as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy

Attorney General Eric Holder today welcomed the confirmation of Christopher H. Schroeder as the new Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy (OLP). Schroeder was confirmed today by the U.S. Senate.



  • OPA Press Releases

the office

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Laurie Robinson Speaks at Exploring Health Reform and Criminal Justice

"We’re now seeing a convergence of opportunity and innovative thinking in the correctional health care arena," said Assistant Attorney General Robinson.




the office

Attorney General Announces Appointment of Robin C. Ashton as Head of the Office of Professional Responsibility

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of Robin C. Ashton to serve as head of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at the Department of Justice.



  • OPA Press Releases

the office

Susan B. Carbon, Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, Speaks at the 4th Annual Army Sexual Harassment / Assault Response Prevention Summit

"As members of the military, you are leaders in our nation. Your communities admire you. Your voices matter. And your voices will make a key difference in changing the national dialogue on sexual assault. We can work together to achieve cultural change to stop sexual assault."




the office

Prepared Statement of Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies

Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, I’m very pleased to be here to discuss the President’s 2012 budget request for the Office of Justice Programs.




the office

Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson for the Office of Justice Programs Speaks at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice Annual Meeting

“The challenges facing us in juvenile justice really require that we join together to work on the long term problems… from right-to-counsel issues to disproportionate minority contact to our continued struggles to recognize youth development in disposition decisions. But despite these challenges – and the challenges arising from a tough economy – I’m optimistic that we’re moving in the right direction.”




the office

Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson of the Office of Justice Programs Speaks at the National Symposium on Pretrial Justice

"Each of you has been invited because of your experience, your expertise, and your influence within your constituencies. What we have in this room today is a gathering of many of the most influential criminal justice stakeholders in the nation and we’re going to really try to leverage that influence."




the office

Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson of the Office of Justice Programs Speaks at the National Center for Victims of Crime Annual Conference

"I know with all of us working together to shape our future – thinking together in new ways and re-imagining our potential – the victim service field will be stronger, more effective, and better able to ensure a safer and more just world."




the office

Department of Justice Announces New Acting Director of ATF and Senior Advisor in the Office of Legal Policy

The Department of Justice today announced the appointments of U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones to serve as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson to become Senior Advisor on forensic science in the Office of Legal Policy.



  • OPA Press Releases

the office

Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention National Conference

"That’s why, today, I am proud to announce a series of grants to organizations that offer mentoring programs specifically targeting children with a parent in the military," said Attorney General Holder.




the office

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Laurie Robinson at the Animal Welfare Institute Albert Schweitzer Awards Ceremony

"The Albert Schweitzer Awards are given in honor of one of the world’s great humanitarians, a man who defined “good” as the preservation and enhancement of life in all its forms. The work that these recipients have done embodies the soul of Schweitzer’s philosophy," said Assistant Attorney General Robinson.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Summit

"I don’t need to tell anyone here what a difficult challenge youth violence is. You’re all part of the Forum because you’ve seen the consequences of juvenile crime in your own communities. You understand how complex this issue is – and you know this is not a problem any of us can solve alone – especially in this tough fiscal climate," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony

"For me, personally, working with victims has been the most rewarding aspect of my career, bar none. Nothing compares with the satisfaction of helping to restore a sense of dignity and safety to a crime victim – and nothing has greater impact," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women Bea Hanson Speaks at the Department of Justice Sexual Assault Awareness Month Event

"Over the past couple of years OVW has made a concerted effort to prioritize sexual violence by providing grants to address the gap in services and resources for victims and survivors of rape and sexual violence," said Acting Director Hanson.




the office

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Institute of Justice Conference

"As we all know, the challenges facing us in criminal justice are considerable. But our knowledge about what works is growing, and the tools and technology we have at our disposal are expanding. We are becoming – every day – more sophisticated, more informed, and more effective," said Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women Bea Hanson Speaks at the National Lieutenant Governors Association Annual Meeting

"Your role in the executive and legislative branches is unique, and you can use that position to engage with your states and encourage innovative, non-traditional partnerships across government and between local units of government and non-governmental organizations. These partnerships can create dynamic solutions to challenges we see across the country every day," said Acting Director Hanson.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the Center for AIDS Research Corrections Subgroup

"For too long, our jails and prisons have been thought of as sealed institutions, where all problems – and all dangers – are contained. But that is clearly not the case. Health care is a powerful example of how issues that are unresolved – and, too often, exacerbated – in the corrections setting can lead to public health and public safety risks," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women Bea Hanson Speaks at the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Boston Site Visit

"As we work to help keep our children safe, we cannot view youth violence and violence against women as separate and distinct, but, instead, as intertwined. To realize our vision for safe and healthy communities, we must start with safe and healthy homes," said Acting Director Hanson.




the office

Director of the Office of Information Policy Melanie Ann Pustay Testifies Before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

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the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Center for Victims of Crime Annual Conference

"There’s still much more we need to do, and it’s incumbent on all of us in the field – and throughout the justice system – to work together to meet the challenges that we – and all victims – continue to face," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the Clery Center for Security on Campus

"Several years ago, our Office for Victims of Crime funded the Clery Center to develop a training curriculum for university administrators and law enforcement executives about the requirements of the Clery Act. The Center continues to deliver the training throughout the country," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Indian Nations Conference

"We recognize that crime rates are high in Indian country and help is not easy to come by, given tribes’ geographical remoteness and scarcity of resources. But tribal victim service providers have shown time and again that their efforts to meet these challenges are unflagging," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the Science Advisory Board Meeting

"Over the last four years, we've generated tremendous momentum in our work to integrate evidence into our programs and activities. Our leadership – not only at BJS and NIJ, but across OJP – has demonstrated a strong scientific ethic," said Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary at the Workshop of the Forum on Global Violence Prevention Sponsored by the Institute of Medicine

"One of our top priorities is addressing youth violence. As I’m sure many of you would agree, this is one of the most complex and intractable problems in criminal justice. And because it is so complex, we’ve learned over time that tackling it involves many people – stakeholders from all sectors and from all levels of government," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the 8th Annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America

"I’m especially proud of the part that we – at the Office of Justice Programs – have played in improving knowledge about what works in the fields of criminal and juvenile justice. Our National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics have, for many years, made significant contributions to our base of knowledge," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy Elana Tyrangiel Speaks at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Meeting

"In fact, this initiative constitutes a significant step forward in fostering increased levels of engagement with these partners and with Congress, in establishing a productive partnership between the Department of Justice and NIST, and in strengthening our ability to realize the goals and priorities that we all share," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tyrangiel.




the office

Robert Listenbee Jr. Assumes Leadership of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary announced that Robert L. Listenbee Jr. has assumed the role as administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.



  • OPA Press Releases

the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National African American Drug Policy Coalition National Spring 2013 Summit

"The issues you’re discussing here at this summit – the intersection of drugs and crime, gang and youth violence, the future of juvenile justice – are all issues the Department of Justice and my office, the Office of Justice Programs, are working diligently to address," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the Release of the Framework of Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report

"The goal of Vision 21 is to create a framework to address these enduring and emerging challenges – in short, to re-define the role of victim services in the 21st century," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary




the office

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs Mary Lou Leary Speaks at the National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony

"We’re doubling down on our support for victims because the challenges they and their advocates face continue to be significant, and they’re growing," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary.