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Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Administration

Barbara Fredericks
BFrederi[at]doc[dot]gov
Tel.:  202-482-5387
Fax:  202-482-2998

Welcome

The Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Administration (AGC/Admin) is responsible for the coordination of all legal matters involved in and concerned with the activities and interests of the Department of Commerce in the field of administrative law.  The AGC/Admin is the source of legal expertise in specific areas of administrative law, appropriations issues, civil rights, collective bargaining, conflicts of interest, employee benefits, ethics, fiscal law, labor relations, management, personnel, property, and travel allowance.

Office Description

The AGC/Admin also advises on special statutes such as the Antideficiency Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act.  The office serves as the program office for ethics matters for the entire Department.  As the Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official, the Assistant General Counsel is responsible for administrating the Department’s ethics program.  This includes collecting and reviewing financial disclosure reports (SF 278s and OGE Form 450s) of senior Department officials, advising Department employees on conflict of interest statutes and the Standards of Conduct and conducting ethics training.  The AGC/Admin provides legal representation on behalf of the Department in the conduct of litigation involving adverse actions, civil rights, and cases before the Merit System Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and other labor law fora.  The administrative legal matters described above are common to the Office of the Secretary and all operating units of the Department and AGC/Admin provides advice in these matters across organizational lines.  Clients of this office include all Presidential appointees, heads of operating units and their staffs.