Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

On June 17,2015, the Department of Justice recognized David Margolis on his 50 years of service to the Department. See our June 23 post here: Margolis Celebrates 50 Years of Service. On July 15, The Washington Post published an article entitled David Margolis’s 50 years of quips and controversies at Justice Department, writing:

Margolis is the senior-most career employee in the department and one whose tenure out-clocks that of J. Edgar Hoover, the legendary FBI director. A tall, shambling bear of a man, Margolis has been the consigliere to a succession of deputy attorneys general, with a Forrest Gump-like knack to be involved with a number of the most politically controversial issues of the department’s past 25 years.

If you missed the Department’s June salute to Margolis, Check out this 4 minute video

DLA Piper announced on June 4, 2015, that Rachel Paulose, former United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, and NAFUSA’s newest member, has joined the firm as a partner in its litigation practice in Minneapolis. She joins NAFUSA members Earl Silbert and Kathryn Keneally at DLA Piper.

Paulose comes to DLA Piper after an extensive career in public service. When she was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in 2006 to serve as the US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Paulose became the first Indian American to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve in any federal appointment. Under her leadership, the office recorded the highest number of prosecutions in the District’s history. Paulose also oversaw landmark prosecutions of white collar crime, public corruption, and violent crime trafficking cartels.

Previously, Paulose worked as senior trial counsel with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, where she investigated and litigated complex civil cases involving violations of federal securities laws, as well as coordinated prosecutions with national and international law enforcement agencies.

Prior to this role, Paulose was counselor to the Assistant US Attorney General and supervised nationwide policy development for white collar crime, healthcare fraud and national security. Before that, she was senior counsel to the Deputy US Attorney General, special counsel for Health Care Fraud, and special assistant to the Attorney General, for which she reported directly to the US Attorney General.

From 1999-2002, Paulose served as assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota before going into private practice. She began her legal career as a law clerk for Hon. James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and thereafter joined the US Department of Justice as a US Attorney General’s Honors Program trial attorney in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division.

“As a former AUSA, USA, and SEC attorney, Rachel has significant white collar crime and governmental investigatory credentials that will resonate with companies, particularly those in the Twin Cities that are doing business globally,” said Alan Kildow, managing partner of DLA Piper’s Minneapolis office.

Paulose received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow, and her B.A. from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has named Davis Polk litigation partner Neil MacBride to the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act (CJA).  MacBride is the only private practice lawyer to serve on the Committee, alongside federal judges, federal defenders and law professors.

The 11-member Committee, chaired by Judge Kathleen Cardone, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, will review the impact of judicial involvement in the selection and compensation of federal public defenders and the independence of federal defender organizations; equal employment and diversity efforts in federal defender organizations; judicial involvement in the appointment, compensation, and management of panel attorneys, investigators, experts and other service providers; and the adequacy of compensation and quality of representation for legal services provided under the CJA.

The CJA was established in 1964 to establish a comprehensive system for appointing and compensating lawyers to represent defendants financially unable to retain counsel in federal criminal proceedings.

MacBride’s practice focuses on government enforcement actions, internal investigations, congressional investigations and complex civil litigation. Before joining Davis Polk, he served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. MacBride currently serves on the NAFUSA board of directors.

The St. Louis Cardinals announced yesterday that they had retained the St. Louis law firm of Dowd Bennett to conduct an internal review of the allegations of hacking into the Houston Astros’s database. The Cardinals said they had retained the firm in February, well before it was disclosed this week that the F.B.I. was investigating whether the team had hacked into the database, which is used to track players and prospects.

The internal investigation is being led by NAFUSA members Jim Martin, shown above, and Ed Dowd, shown below, partners at Dowd Bennett. Martin said yesterday that high-level executives of the Cardinals were not involved in the hacking.

“With what we have done so far, I am 100 percent confident that this does not touch upper management,” Jim Martin, said. He added that he was sure the hacking did not involve people like John Mozeliak, the team’s general manager, or Bill DeWitt Jr., its chairman.

The New York Times reported “There has been no indication of how many employees might be under investigation, and Mr. Martin’s comments were the first to suggest that any wrongdoing could be limited to the lower levels of the Cardinals’ organization.”

The internal investigation is not finished and Dowd Bennett is also helping the team cooperate with the federal government.

NAFUSA board member and life member Kevin J. O’Connor has joined Point72 Asset Management as General Counsel, Point72 CEO Steve Cohen and President Doug Haynes announced on May 6, 2015.

“I am excited to join Point72 and its outstanding management team,” O’Connor said. “What made this opportunity so compelling was Steve and Doug’s clear commitment to continue doing what is necessary to build a world-class legal function that will help ensure that Point72 adheres to the highest ethical standards yet maintains its excellent performance. I look forward to being part of such a worthy endeavor.”

O’Connor began his legal career clerking for the Hon. William H. Timbers of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and subsequently joined the SEC, where he investigated securities fraud cases on behalf of the government.

After his service with the SEC, O’Connor returned to Connecticut and practiced law, becoming a partner at the then firm of Day, Berry & Howard in 2001. In 2002, he returned to public service when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve as the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, a position for which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.

O’Connor served as U.S. Attorney until 2008 when President Bush nominated him to serve as Associate Attorney General, the third-highest ranking position at the DOJ in Washington, D.C. O’Connor was unanimously confirmed again by the Senate and served in that position until 2009.

While at DOJ, O’Connor also served, at the request of the Attorney General as Associate Deputy Attorney General and as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General.

In addition to his public service, O’Connor has a decade of private law firm experience, most recently serving as a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani, where chaired the firm’s white collar practice.

O’Connor graduated with High Honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1992 and earned his BA with Honors from the University of Notre Dame in 1989. He is involved in many non-profit organizations, serving as Vice Chair of the Board of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, and the Ethics Resource Center.

Point72 Asset Management is a family office managing the assets of its founder, Steven A. Cohen, and eligible employees. Point72 primarily invests in discretionary long/short equities and makes significant quantitative and macro investments. The Firm’s long/short investment divisions are Point72 Asset Management and EverPoint Asset Management. Cubist Systematic Strategies is its quantitative business, Rubric Capital is its deep value, multi-strategy business, and Honeycomb Ventures is its high-growth, technology-focused venture capital investing business. The Firm is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and maintains offices in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore. Point72 Asset Management, L.P. is a family office and does not seek, solicit or accept any external investments. www.Point72.com