The Santa Fe NAFUSA conference in 2011 featured a two hour panel discussion on WikiLeaks. The above photo shows panelists Charlie Savage and Valerie Plame Wilson. More than a year later, issues relating to WikiLeaks continue in the news. On the front page of this morning’s New York Times, Savage co-authors with Scott Shane an article dealing with the on-going military proceedings at Fort Meade involving Private Bradley Manning. Read: In Wiki-Leaks Case, Defense Puts Jailers on Trial.

Savage and Shane write:

It seemed incongruous that he has essentially acknowledged responsibility for the largest leak of classified material in history. The material included a quarter-million State Department cables whose release may have chilled diplomats’ ability to do their work discreetly but also helped fuel the Arab Spring; video of American helicopter crews shooting people on the ground in Baghdad who they thought were enemy fighters but were actually Reuters journalists; field reports on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and confidential assessments of the detainees locked up at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The proceedings at Fort Meade involve a request by Manning’s lawyer to dismiss the charges on the grounds that his pretrial treatment was unlawful. As The Times notes, that outcome appears unlikely. Manning still faces a court-martial, scheduled for March.

As for Julian Assange, Savage and Shane report:

As the military pursues the case against Private Manning, the Justice Department continues to explore the possibility of charging WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange, or other activists with the group, possibly as conspirators in Private Manning’s alleged offense. Federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va., are still assigned to that investigation, according to law enforcement officials, but it is not clear how active they have been lately in presenting evidence to a grand jury.

NAFUSA historian and past president John E. Clark, shown above at the Atlanta conference, was one of thirteen former United States Attorneys and one former assistant attorney general who met in New Orleans 33 years ago to form NAFUSA. After the Atlanta conference, Clark took a few minutes to describe this event in the attached The Founding of NAFUSA: Why and How It Came To Be.

As Clark describes:

All were veterans of the Nixon and Ford administrations. All had held office during difficult times for United States Attorneys. Their experiences had left them firmly convinced that the office of United States Attorney is uniquely essential to the fulfillment of every president’s constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” and that protecting the independence and integrity of the office they had held is a cause that transcends politics. Their deliberations in New Orleans resulted in the creation of NAFUSA, a non-profit organization whose charter reflects a non-partisan commitment to protecting and furthering the integrity, independence and effectiveness of the office.

The NAFUSA Newsletter – 3-15-79 also describes the initial meeting in New Orleans. Clark was elected the organization’s first secretary and became president a few years later. According to Clark,

The 1980 meeting was held in Washington, D.C.  At that meeting the question where to meet in 1981 was discussed at an informal gathering of the board and the officers.  A few wives were present, and Harriet Crampton, Scott’s wife, said, “I’ve always liked San Antonio.  Can we go there?”  And so it was decided.

Clark served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, 1975-1977. He currenty practices law with Goode, Casseb, Jones, Riklin, Choate & Watson, P.C. in San Antonio.

At NAFUSA’s annual conference in Atlanta in October, H. Marshall Jarrett, the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, gave the State of the Department address. Jarrett told the conference that civil cases were up  10% in fiscal year 2012 but criminal cases were down 8.4% from the all time high in 2011. He said it was not a surprise as staffing was down 850 employees and constituted a return to 2008 levels. A hiring freeze remains in effect, with federal pay raises frozen for the past two years.

Jarrett mentioned a bright note in that collections are expected to be $13 billion in fiscal year 2012 compared to the Department’s appropriated budget of just under $2 billion for the year.

The photos from the Atlanta conference are now available. Some examples follow:

Atlanta Planning Committee: Joe Whitley, Bob Barr, Kent Alexander and Rick Deane

Panel on Internal Investigations: Dan Webb, Kevin O’Connor, Brain Loughman, Jay Stephens, Lanny Breuer, Sharon Zealey and David Remnitz

Panel on immigration: Julie Myers Wood, Nina Perales, Ali Mayorkas, Luther Strange, Chief John King and Charlie Savage

NAFUSA Board and Officers

Rick Deane and his Atlanta based committee of Kent Alexander, Bob Barr and Joe Whitley succeeded in hosting one of the best NAFUSA conferences ever held. The opening day set the tone when over 40 golfers enjoyed the prestigious East Lake Golf Club, home two weeks earlier to the PGA tour. The rest of the conference attendees joined the golfers in the evening for the opening cocktail reception, hosted by Greenberg Traurig. The crowd was welcomed to Atlanta by Former Mayor Shirley Franklin.

On Friday morning, the CLE program began with welcomes from the Georgia Attorney General Olens and current Georgia U.S. Attorneys, Edward J. Tarver and Michael J. Moore. Deputy Solicitor General Michael R. Dreeben gave a presentation on the Supreme Court Term, 2011-2012, describing many of the significant cases of the term which he had personally argued. The Friday program closed with a panel sponsored by Ernst & Young on Corporate Compliance- Investigations, Diligence and Analytics and moderated by Jay Stephens. The panelists were Assistant AG Lanny Breuer; NAFUSA members Dan Webb, Kevin O’Connor and Sharon Zealey; and Brian Loughman and David Remick from Ernst & Young.

The Friday luncheon was held at The Carter Center. Although Former President Jimmy Carter was unable to join us, he did send a personal letter in which he said:

I regret my schedule did not permit me to be in Atlanta this week to be with you in person and visit with some of my former associates. I commend you all for your service to our nation and hope that your meetings are productive.

AGAC chair Paul Fishman spoke at the Carter luncheon with his News from the Field and the AGAC.

On Friday evening, several class reunions were held: the Reagan-Bush I alumni, the Bush II group, the Clinton alumni and the Carter alums.

Saturday’s CLE began with Marshall Jarrett, Director of EOUSA, describing the State of the Department. The J. Michael Bradford Award was presented to Reid Schar, ND of Illinois, who gave a stimulating presentation on his handling of the Blagojevich case. Rory K. Little, Professor of Law at U.C. Hastings College of Law gave the Ethics Presentation. The program concluded with a panel discussion on Immigration Issues, moderated by Charlie Savage of The New York Times. The panel consisted of Alejandro N. Mayorkas, DHS, Nina Perales, MALDEF, Alabama AG Luther Strange, Chief John King, City of Doraville and former ICE director Julie Myers Wood.

The conference concluded with the Saturday banquet and business meeting. The election of Jay Stephens and the other officers and directors is described elsewhere as is the unforgettable keynote address by Mike Cody. Rick Deane was honored for his outstanding year as president of NAFUSA and his organization of the conference. Rick was surprised by a celebration of his birthday, including a cake and 60 purple balloons.

The conferences would not be possible without the support of the sponsors. This year sponors contributed $78,000 to the success of the Atlanta meeting. A full list of the sponors can be found on the right side of the home page of the NAFUSA website. By clicking on the sponsor logo you can visit their website.

Next year Washington, DC.

When health issues caused John Doar to withdraw as the keynote speaker for the Atlanta conference, long time NAFUSA member W.J. Michael (“Mike”) Cody agreed to stand in. Cody proceeded to give one of the most memorable speeches ever heard at the annual meetings. Cody was one of six lawyers representing Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis when Dr. King was assassinated while in the city to support the striking sanitation workers. Cody’s intense description of the last two days of Dr. King’s life effected everyone in the room.

Cody has written a law review article which formed the basis for his speech: King at the Mountain Top: The Representation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphis, April 3-4 1968. Cody was present at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968, the night before Dr. King was killed, when he made his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.

A young Mike Cody appears in the photo below in the lower right center on the day of the demonstration on behalf of the sanitation workers.

At the close of the Atlanta conference, the NAFUSA membership elected Jay Stephens, to serve as its president for 2012-2013. Stephens is senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Raytheon Company. Raytheon, with 2011 sales of $25 billion and 71,000 employees worldwide, is a leader in defense, homeland security and other government markets worldwide. Stephens leads the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, ethics and compliance programs, and corporate governance activities.

Prior to joining Raytheon, he served as associate attorney general of the United States. Before becoming associate attorney general, Stephens was corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Honeywell International (formerly AlliedSignal). From 1993 to 1997, Stephens was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm of Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro, where his practice focused on complex litigation, regulatory matters and corporate governance issues. He also served as co-managing partner of the firm’s Washington office.

Stephens served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, 1988-1993. From 1986 to 1988, Stephens served in the White House as deputy counsel to President Reagan, where he was responsible for a wide range of legal policy and regulatory issues and for providing counsel and advice to the President and senior White House staff.

From 1973 to 1985, Stephens served in a variety of positions with the U.S. Department of Justice and in the private sector, including principal associate deputy attorney general, assistant U.S. attorney and assistant special Watergate prosecutor. He also worked as an assistant general counsel with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and as an associate with the Washington law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering.

Stephens graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in government, attended Oxford University on a Knox Fellowship, and earned his Juris Doctor degree cum laude from the Harvard Law School. He currently serves on the board of directors of the New England Legal Foundation and the Atlantic Legal Foundation. Stephens also serves on the advisory boards of the American Enterprise Institute’s Legal Center for the Public Interest and the Georgetown Law School Corporate Counsel Institute, as well as on the General Counsel Committee of the National Center for State Courts, and as a trustee of the American Friends of New College, Oxford.

The following were also elected to serve for 2012-2013: President Elect Donald K. Stern, District of Massachusett; Vice President Matthew D. Orwig, ED of Texas; Secretary Gregory A. Vega, SD of California and Treasurer E. Bart Daniel, District of South Carolina.

Alice Howzwe Martin, ND of Alabama was elected to fill the vacancy on the board in the class of 2013 due to Bart Daniels moving to the chairs. The following were elected to the the board as the class of 2015: Kent B. Alexander, ND Georgia; William J. Leone, District of Colorado; Kenneth L. Wainstein, District of Columbia; Donald W. Washington, WD of Louisiana and Sharon J. Zealey, SD of Ohio.  Click here for photos of officers and directors.

Finally, it was announced that the 2013 conference will be held in Washington, DC on September 26-28 and the 2014 conference in Boston on October 9-11.

Health issues have forced John Doar to withdraw from the NAFUSA Atlanta conference. Doar, 91, was hospitalized in New York in August with a blood clot in his lung. He is recovering and his health is improving, but he will be unable to travel to Atlanta in October.

Long time NAFUSA member W.J. Michael (“Mike”) Cody, shown right, has agreed to stand in for Doar as this year’s keynote speaker. John Doar served in the Justice Department during the critical years of the civil rights movement. Cody, as a young lawyer in Memphis during that era, was also a witness to some of the most significant events of the times. His keynote topic will be entitled King at the Mountain Top: The Representation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphis, April 3-4, 1968. Cody was one of six lawyers providing legal representation to Dr. King on that momentous day in Memphis when King was assassinated while in town to support the striking sanitation workers. Young Mike Cody is shown below on the right at the injunction hearing where the City of Memphis attempted to prevent the march in support of the sanitation workers.

Cody served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee (1977-1981) and as the Attorney General of the State of Tennessee (1984-1988). He served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (1979-1980).

Except for his years in public service and one year at another firm in Nashville, he has been a partner at Burch Porter & Johnson PLLC in Memphis since 1961. He has been a professor at Rhodes College and Lemoyne Owen College, Memphis State University School of Law and Vanderbilt University School of Law. Cody is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is co-chair, Society of Attorneys General Emeritus. He was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve and earned his J.D. at the University of Virginia. Cody is a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

If you haven’t registered for Atlanta, please click on the registration button to the right and do so today. The deadline for the group rate at the W Atlanta Downtown is September 11.

As NAFUSA President Rick Deane says:

Bob Barr, Joe Whitley, Kent Alexander and I all look forward to hosting everyone in Atlanta in October.  The conference will continue in the vein of what has come to be expected of NAFUSA: strong program content with outstanding presenters along with interesting and fun social outings.  The immigration panel in particular will be balanced and thought provoking and John Doar will cause us to reflect on the Department at its finest. Our committee looks forward to seeing y’all in Atlanta!

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Charlie Savage, of The New York Times will be with us for the third year in a row moderating the panel of immigration issues. Charlie says:

Immigration enforcement is one of the most complex and contentious areas today at the intersection of law, policy and politics. From recent court rulings about the crackdowns in Arizona and Alabama to the Obama administration’s policy of granting relief from deportation to people who were brought to the United States illegally as children, there will be much for the panel to dig into at this year’s NAFUSA conference.

NAFUSA President-Elect Jay Stephens will moderate the panel on corporate internal investigations and says:

In an environment of aggressive regulatory enforcement and enhanced business compliance initiatives, the ‘internal investigation’ has become a critical tool to assist in resolving complex disputes and shaping management’s response to compliance concerns.  Our panel of highly accomplished players from government, industry, and private practice promises to generate some fascinating perspectives about the judgments, constraints, and relationships that shape the conduct and impact of an effective internal investigation.

Click on the link 2012 NAFUSA Conference for full details of the Atlanta program, including speaker bios and a list of sponsors.