Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP announced on September 13, 2013, that NAFUSA member Charles J. Stevens has returned to the firm in its San Francisco office as a partner. Stevens, a former Gibson Dunn partner, joins more than 40 former Justice Department lawyers at the firm, including NAFUSA members Ted Olson and Debra Yang.

Stevens will practice in the areas of government and internal investigations, compliance reviews, and white collar defense with focus on antitrust, health care fraud, False Claims Act (FCA), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and procurement fraud, as well as related complex civil litigation alleging fraud, unfair competition and unfair business practices.

Stevens began his career as an associate with Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles office. He then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Public Corruption and Government Contract Fraud Unit in the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He returned to Gibson Dunn and became a partner in 1990.

In 1993, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California by President Clinton. Then 35 years old, he was one of the youngest U.S. Attorneys in the country. In this role, he oversaw the district’s two offices and 150 employees and created and supervised the implementation of multiple initiatives, including affirmative civil enforcement of the False Claims Act, civil rights, health care fraud and political corruption. During his tenure, he was appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.

Following his service as U.S. Attorney, Stevens and NAFUSA member George O’Connell founded the boutique litigation firm, Stevens, O’Connell & Jacobs LLP, which focused on government and internal investigations. He spend the last year as a mediator with JAMS, one of NAFUSA’s 2013 sponsors, focusing on matters involving government claims, such as the False Claims Act and teaching a mediation course U.C. Davis Law School. He has also taught classes in government investigations and professional responsibility. He is a 1982 graduate of University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he served as Senior Note and Comment Editor of the California Law Review.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world’s top law firms in industry in industry surveys and major publications with 1,100 lawyers and 18 offices.

NAFUSA member Catherine Hanaway has joined, effective September 3, 2013, the St. Louis office of Husch Blackwell. She will lead the firm’s Government Compliance and Investigations team. Hanaway served as the first female Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives (2003-2005) and as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri (2005-2009) before returning to private practice with the Ashcroft Law Firm.  She earned her J.D. from The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America (1990) and began her legal career at the law firm Peper, Martin, Jensen, Maichel & Hetlage, a predecessor firm to Husch Blackwell.

On how she feels about her move, Hanaway said,

When I left Peper Martin 20 years ago, the firm had about 100 attorneys in four offices. Now, Husch Blackwell has offices in 16 U.S. cities, including three newly added locations in Texas, and an exciting strategic direction and industry focus. The firm’s focus on clients and deep immersion into their industries, their worlds and their issues is compelling, and I’m thrilled to join the team at this exciting time.

Husch Blackwell LLP is a full-service litigation and business law firm with attorneys in locations across the United States and in London, serving clients with domestic and international operations. They represent national and global leaders in major industries that include agribusiness, food and beverage, energy, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, real estate, construction, manufacturing, technology and transportation.

NAFUSA board member Tom Maroney will be unable to attend the September conference in Washington.  Tom fell on August 16 at his home in Syracuse and fractured his neck. His wife, Mary Kay, reports that he “got up Friday evening and in a sleepy state walked down our upstairs hall in the dark, turning towards the stairs.  He fell the full length of the stairs and fractured and dislocated the cervical vertebrae (C5 and C6).  He was transported by ambulance to our trauma center where he had emergency surgery both Sunday and Tuesday to repair the damage.  Due to the nature of the injury he is very fortunate to be alive and have some movement in his arms and legs.  The doctors are calling it a miracle as his injury to the spine and spinal cord usually result in paraplegia or death.  The past week has been a very rocky rollercoaster with intubation, resuscitation, surgery, and overall fragile stability…. His brain is as sharp as ever and his greatest frustration is the very constricting neck collar which makes you feel like you are being strangled.”

On August 30, Mary Kay advised that, “Tom continues to make slow but steady progress but we are looking at months of rehab with the goal of full function of his arms and hands.  The MDs are very optimistic and have told us they expect ‘full recovery in 6 – 9 months’.  Of course this is the goal and Tom is working hard to make that a reality.
Yesterday he was transferred from Upstate University Hospital to the Acute Care Rehab Unit (located at Upstate at Community General Hospital).  He is in Rm 424 there.  This morning at 7:30 he began physical therapy followed by occupational therapy for about 3 hrs/day.  We expect he will remain in the Rehab Unit there for about 2 weeks.  Then we hope the next step is home for in-home PT and OT.”

Tom and Mary Kay, shown below at the Atlanta conference, will be missed in Washington, but we will hope and pray for an early and full recovery. If you wish to send a note, his address is: Upstate University Hospital at Community Campus 4E Room 424, 4900 Broad Rd, Syracuse, New York 13215.

NAFUSA member and New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice Salvatore R. Martoche is joining  the Buffalo office of Hodgson Russ effective September 3. With the addition of Judge Martoche, the firm will formally launch its national Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Judge Martoche, who has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution at the federal, state, and local levels in addition to his 13 years on the Supreme Court bench, will lead the group. In addition, he will be a member of the Business Litigation Practice Group, the Business Crimes, Regulatory Offenses & Corporate Investigations Practice Group, and the Banking Practice Group.

As an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury under Presidents Reagan and Bush from 1988 to 1990, Martoche oversaw all law enforcement operations in the Treasury Department. Prior to that, he served as an assistant secretary of the U.S. Labor Department under President Reagan. While in federal service, Judge Martoche was a key official involved in correcting the country’s savings and loan scandals of the 1980s.

Earlier in his career, Judge Martoche was U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, and he served as one of the six commissioners of the New York State Commission of Investigation, which investigated allegations of organized crime and public corruption statewide. Judge Martoche also served as a Buffalo public defender and was in private practice for more than 20 years.

Judge Martoche is widely credited with significant reforms in the Federal Witness Protection Program, and one of his many high-profile cases served as the basis for the James Caan movie “Hide in Plain Sight.”

Judge Martoche is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest distinction given by the secretary of Treasury; Buffalo News, Citizen of the Year; and Canisius College, LaSalle Medal and Distinguished Alumni Award.

Hodgson Russ attorneys facilitate the U.S. legal aspects of transactions around the world. They practice in every major area of law and generally use multidisciplinary work teams to serve the specific, often complex, needs of our clients, which include public and privately held businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Hodgson Russ has offices in Albany, Buffalo, New York City, and Saratoga Springs, New York; Toronto, Ontario; and Palm Beach, Florida.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has appointed NAFUSA member Robert “Bob” Q. Whitwell Sr., shown left,  as a chancery court judge. Whitwell served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi 1985-1993. He also served as the principal associate deputy attorney general at Main Justice and as a municipal court judge in Mississippi from 1975-1985. Chancery Court District 18, Place 2 includes Benton, Calhoun, Lafayette, Marshall and Tippah counties in Mississippi.

Whitwell has been a partner in the law firm of Farese, Farese & Farese in Ashland. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi.

NAFUSA President-Elect Don Stern published an OpEd piece in today’s Boston Globe, wherein he discusses the recent conviction of James “Whitey” Bulger, the infamous Boston mobster whose violent crimes were committed during a 25-year reign of terror. Stern was the US Attorney at the time of Bulger’s indictment and the US Attorney who approved the Martorano plea agreement in 1999 which led to the prosecution of Bulger and Stephen Flemmi. Underlying the Bulger trial was the corrupt relationship Bulger had with law enforcement.

Click here to read Stern’s OpEd piece: Plea deals: A necessary evil

Stern is a managing director, corporate monitoring at Affiliated Monitors, one of NAFUSA’s 2013 sponsors, and an attorney with Yurko, Salvesen & Remzstern. He was the United States Attorney in Massachusetts, 1992-2001.

On July 31, 2013, the Senate confirmed NAFUSA member B. Todd Jones as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the first permanent director since 2006. The Senate vote was 53-42.

In August, 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder named Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, the acting director of ATF. He has continued as U.S. Attorney during his time at ATF. President Barack Obama nominated Jones for the position of United States Attorney in 2009. President Bill Clinton had appointed him to the same position in 1998, and he served until 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Jones has served in the United States Marine Corps.