Harold J. (“Head”) Bender, 70, passed away on March 24, 2013. Bender worked several years at the Department of Justice and served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in 1981. Following his federal service, Bender spent many years as a criminal defense attorney in Charlotte. He also spent many years as a football referee in the Southern Conference. He retired in 2010.
Head is survived by his wife Nita Robertson, his daughter, Currin Bender, and two step sons, Ford Robertson and Bradley Robertson. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday, March 28, 2013, at St. Philip’s Episocpal Church in Southport, North Carolina. Click here to view full obituary
The National Law Journal today published its list of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America”, which included five members of NAFUSA: Patrick Fitzgerald, Theodore Olson, Anton Valukas, Dan Webb and Mary Jo White.
In announcing its selections, the NLJ said:
The National Law Journal has selected 100 lawyers who shape the legal world through their work in the courtroom, at the negotiating table, in the classroom or in government. They have taken on major legal battles and orchestrated the biggest corporate deals. They’ve tackled unpopular causes and helped run giant corporations.
The lawyers here were chosen by the NLJ’s editors, aided by nominations from the legal community and research by our reporting staff. We asked several key questions to help judge the influence of lawyers profiled: How deep were their political connections?; what kind of results did they achieve for clients?; how far and how effective was their media reach?; have they been business leaders?; are they thought leaders on important legal issues? (Icons indicate the qualities we feel the lawyers best embody.)
We limited selections in a few ways, focusing on accomplishments since 2006, the last time we published the 100 Most Influential Lawyers list. Judges weren’t eligible, nor were members of Congress or the president. This list is for practicing attorneys, members of the legal academy and officials in law-centric government positions (elected or otherwise). Our goal, in the end, was to identify members of law’s power elite.
The National Law Journal reported yesterday that Patrick Fitzgerald, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, has been named the inaugural Feirson Distinguished Lecturer at University of Chicago Law School. Fitzgerald will teach one course per year, beginning with a national security law program this spring.
NAFUSA Immediate Past President Rick Deane has been chosen by the State Bar of Georgia’s Bench and Bar Committee as the attorney recipient of the 12th Annual Chief Justice Thomas O. Marshall Professionalism Award. The awards honoring “one lawyer and one judge who have demonstrated the highest professional conduct and paramount reputation for professionalism” will be presented at the Bar’s annual meeting in June.
Deane, a partner in the Atlanta office of Jones Day, heads the litigation group for the Atlanta Office and is co-chair of the Firm’s Corporate Criminal Investigations Practice. A member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Deane served as a Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, from 1994 to 1998, when he was appointed United States Attorney.
NAFUSA member John W. Stokes, Jr, who served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1972-1977, passed away suddenly on February 24, 2013. Stokes also served as the United States Marshall for the Middle District of Georgia and as an assistant district attorney and assistant solicitor in Fulton County.
Stokes was a US Navy pilot during WWII, and flew off carriers in the Pacific. He is survived by his wife, Ullainee Musgrove Stokes and his three children, John Paul Stokes, Richard Stokes and Holly Brask. NAFUSA has requested an American flag to be flown over Main Justice in John’s honor and presented to his family as an expression of regard from his former colleagues.
Gaynelle Griffin Jones, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, died March 1, 2013, after a three year battle with cancer. Jones also served on the First Court of Appeals in Texas.
After graduating from Boston College Law School, Jones served as a state and federal prosecutor in Louisiana and Texas. She also practiced corporate law in Boston and Houston, most recently as litigation counsel for Hewlett-packard Co. She was also an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the University of Houston.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Jones and her daughter, Athena Jones, a CNN correspondent. Click here to view the Houston Chronicle obituary. Funeral services were held on March 9, 2013, where NAFUSA presented her family with an American flag flown over Main Justice in her honor.
Former NAFUSA executive director Ron Woods represented NAFUSA at the funeral and reported:
I received the attached NAFUSA plaque (photo) Friday afternoon before the Saturday, March 9, 2013 funeral. Plaque reads “Flown over the US Department of Justice March 5, 2013 in Honor of Gaynelle Griffin Jones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, 1993-1997”. Her husband, Robert, and daughter, Athena, asked that the presentation be part of the funeral. I had the honor of making the presentation as part of the funeral proceeding. The family sincerely appreciated the recognition and numerous current and former AUSA’s who were present, thought it was a nice honor that NAFUSA and DOJ bestows on deceased U.S. Attorneys.
NAFUSA member John C. Richter will be co-chairing a conference exploring strategies for complex parallel fraud actions at the 15th Annual Sedona Conference on Complex Litigation. Richter is inviting NAFUSA members to join him at the invitation only conference on May 2-3, 2013 in Del Mar, California.
Enforcement against corporate fraud commonly involves parallel proceedings – simultaneous or successive criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings arising out of a common set of facts and commenced by multiple government agencies and private litigants.
Richter says:
We have a distinguished faculty including Judge Rakoff, Mark Filip (former DAG and judge), Rob Khuzami (former head of SEC Enforcement, Carol Lam (DGC Qualcomm & former USA), Jamie Gorelick (former DAG), current U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride, Civil Division DAAG Joyce Branda, and GE Head of Litigation Brad Berenson.
Richter is a partner at King & Spalding in its special matters and government investigations practice in Washington. He served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, 2005-2009, and the acting assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.
For the past two years, the NCAA has been investigating allegations from a convicted Ponzi schemer that he had provided illicit payments and other benefits to University of Miami student-athletes and personnel associated with its basketball and football programs. On January 22, 2013, NCAA President Mark Emmert announced in a press conference that the NCAA’s Enforcement Staff had apparently acted inappropriately in that investigation.
The inappropriate investigative conduct arose after the NCAA’s lead investigator had problems persuading witnesses to submit to interviews. He turned to the Ponzi schemer’s criminal attorney, who used subpoenas in her client’s bankruptcy proceeding to compel those reluctant witnesses to submit to depositions which produced information that the NCAA used in its investigation.
Given the manipulative appearance of this conduct, President Emmert decided to appoint an outside counsel to conduct an inquiry into the conduct, how it happened, and who approved it. He appointed Ken Wainstein, a partner at Cadwalader, to head the inquiry.
On February 18, 2013, the NCAA announced the completion of Wainstein’s investigation and issued his written report. The report determined that certain NCAA Enforcement Staff had acted contrary to internal protocols and advice from the NCAA’s Legal Staff and had exceeded the limits placed on the NCAA’s investigative authorities.The investigation led to the NCAA ousting the head of the enforcement division who had been chosen to lead the division just over two years earlier.
Now that he has completed the investigation of the Miami situation, Wainstein will continue to advise the NCAA with a broader assessment of the NCAA’s enforcement operations. Click here to review the entire Wainstein report.
Wainstein spent 19 years at the Department of Justice, including time as the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; general counsel and then chief of staff to Director Mueller at the FBI; U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and the first assistant attorney general for national security. He also served as homeland security advisor to President Bush. He currently serves on the NAFUSA board of directors.
Former NAFUSA Executive Director Ron Woods and his wife, Patty, invited current Executive Director Rich Rossman and his wife, Patty, to the 2013 Mardi Gras celebration in Galveston, Texas. On Friday, February 8th, they joined 1400 others at the special party for The Momus Royal Court at “Jazz! Jazz! Jazz! Mardi Gras”, where the entertainment included Kool & The Gang. They were joined by Ed McDonough, one of the NAFUSA founders and a past president, and Ed’s wife, Dianne. Both Woods and McDonough are members of Momus. On Saturday night, the Woods and Rossmans watched the Mardi Gras parade and threw beads to the crowds below their balcony.
In the photo below, Woods, McDonough and Rossman are joined with an unnamed party goer who is not Dianne McDonough.
![c57887bf-3416-4433-82e2-54ebdef4c1d8[1]](https://i0.wp.com/nafusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/c57887bf-3416-4433-82e2-54ebdef4c1d81.jpg?resize=208%2C188&ssl=1)
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