Polsinelli announced on April 15, 2016, that Barry Grissom, who stepped down earlier in the month as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, will join Polsinelli’s national White Collar Defense and Government Investigations and Compliance – Civil and Criminal Practice. Grissom will be a shareholder in its Kansas City headquarters office. Grissom is among NAFUSA’s newest members. He joins Bill Killian (ED Tennessee 2010-2015), another NAFUSA member, at Polsinelli.

“Polsinelli’s reputation for excellence, combined with its entrepreneurial spirit, clearly drew me to the firm,” said Grissom. “I’m particularly excited by Polsinelli’s national footprint, which will enable me to deploy my skillset nationwide.”

Grissom was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas by President Barack Obama in 2010. Grissom was selected by Attorney General Eric Holder to serve on the Attorney’s General Advisory Committee (AGAC).  As a member of the AGAC, Grissom contributed to efforts to reform the federal criminal justice system through his Smart on Crime initiative. He also served on several sub-committees, including Financial Fraud, Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Team, Terrorism & National Security (Cyber), Native American Issues and Civil Rights.

Continue reading →

On April 20, 2016, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP announced that NAFUSA life member John McKay, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, has joined the firm in Seattle as chair of the firm’s government investigations and crisis management group.

McKay was appointed U.S. Attorney by President George W. Bush in 2001 and served in that position until 2007. He previously spent many years in private practice, representing local and national companies in complex commercial litigation.

As U.S. Attorney, McKay played a vital role in the fight against terrorism. He helped lead the investigation and prosecution of James Ujaama, who pled guilty to assisting the Taliban and later cooperated in terror investigations. He also spearheaded sentencing of Ahmed Ressam, who sought to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

Continue reading →

Peter Vaira

The Legal Intelligencer announced on April 28, 2016, that NAFUSA member Peter Vaira will be among this year’s recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards. See: Lifetime Achievement Award Winners Announced _ The Legal Intelligencer (1).

The Intelligencer, the daily legal newspaper in Philadelphia, will present the awards at a public dinner at a later date, announced that,

Our focus in selecting this group of individuals was to represent the figures who have helped to shape the law in Pennsylvania, whether through their work on the bench, assisting those in need of legal services, building a firm or any other means. We sought to honor attorneys who have had a distinct impact on the legal profession in the state.

Vaira served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 1978-1983, and is currently a partner at Greenblatt Pierce Engle Funt Flores in Philadelphia.

In an opinion published on April 28, 2016, in The Wall Street Journal, A Supreme Court Challenge for Democrats, NAFUSA member Ted Olson opines,

The relentless partisan warfare over Supreme Court appointments, including the latest manifestation involving Judge Merrick Garland, is disheartening, damaging to the court and corrosive to civil discourse. The Supreme Court renders 70 to 80 decisions every year, 20% to 30% of them highly controversial. Public acceptance of contentious outcomes, even from those who strongly disagree, is important to the stability of our Republic. And the public’s willingness to accept decisions depends on the court’s moral authority, independence, reputation and integrity.

But Olson states that a truce cannot be one-sided, arguing that the Rubicon seems to have been crossed in 1987 with the Senate rejection of Robert Bork. He urges that the Republicans could make Judge Garland’s nomination a turning point, but “Democrats must make a credible commitment to keep their part of the bargain.”

If, however, a pact could be reached among responsible Republican and Democratic leaders to give well-qualified Supreme Court nominees of either party a hearing and a vote within 120-180 days of a nomination, we could start down a path toward restoring an atmosphere of respect and civility to this process—and to prospective Supreme Court justices.

Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general, spoke on Supreme Court issues at the 2013 NAFUSA conference in Washington. He is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Attorney at Law Magazine, Middle Tennessee Edition, recently named NAFUSA Board Member Hal Hardin Attorney of the Month. Click here to read the full article “Hal Hardin A True Tennessean” .http://www.attorneyatlawmagazine.com/tennessee/attorney-of-the-month/

Jack Selden

NAFUSA member Jack Selden and his firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP won a significant victory this week both for their client AseraCare and for the False Claims Act (“FCA”) defense bar generally. A federal judge struck down a $200 million FCA case against the hospice provider, holding that the government’s second guessing of physicians’ medical judgment alone cannot prove false claims.

In United States ex rel. Paradies v. AseraCare, Inc., No. 2:12-cv-245, Doc. 497 (N.D. Ala. March 31, 2016), Judge Karon Bowdre granted summary judgment for the defendant after an eight week trial, much of which consisted of conflicting expert testimony about the hospice eligibility of 123 patients. After considering the evidence presented, Judge Bowdre found that the government had failed to prove its case, as “[a] mere difference of opinion between physicians, without more, is not enough to show falsity.” Id. at 2. AseraCare Memorandum Opinion and AseraCare FINAL ORDER.

Continue reading →