“The Legacy of Women at DOJ”

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On Friday, April 8, 2022, the NAFUSA Annual Conference in San Diego will feature a panel discussion entitled “The Legacy of Women at DOJ.” It will feature former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick and former Deputy Attorney General and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. The panel will be moderated by NAFUSA President Karen Hewitt.

 

Loretta E. Lynch, the former United States Attorney General, is a partner in the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department. Ms. Lynch’s legal career has included both private law practice and public service, including three presidential appointments. Ms. Lynch served as the U.S. Attorney General from 2015-2017, where she was appointed by President Barack Obama.

In 1990, Ms. Lynch became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she rose through the ranks, serving in the General Crimes Section as Deputy Chief (1992–93), in the Long Island Division as Chief (1994–98), and as the Chief Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (1998–99) before being named U.S. Attorney of that office in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.

Ms. Lynch returned to private practice in 2002, where she specialized in commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense and corporate compliance issues. During this period, Ms. Lynch also served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was Special Counsel to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

In 2010 Pres. Obama appointed Ms. Lynch once again as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Ms. Lynch received her J.D. and her B.A. in American Literature from Harvard University.

As one of Washington’s best-known litigators, Jamie Gorelick has represented institutions and individuals in a wide array of matters, particularly in the regulatory and enforcement arenas.  Routinely listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in America,” she was the 2018 American Lawyer  “Lifetime Achiever”, has been profiled as “A Legend in the Law” in the Washington Lawyer, and listed by the National Law Journal as one of the “Thirty Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years.”  She recently received the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Service Award.

Jamie has been in and out of government for most of her career.  She was one of the longest serving Deputy Attorneys General of the United States, the second highest position in the Department of Justice.She is currently a partner at WilmerHale is Washington, DC.

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice.  Her practice focuses on counseling clients in complex and sensitive matters, including government enforcement and regulatory matters, congressional investigations, compliance, corporate governance and crisis management. Drawing upon her nearly three decades at the Department of Justice, she specializes in internal and independent investigations for public and private organizations and boards. In addition to serving as the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Sallly also served as the Acting Attorney General.

An accomplished trial lawyer and Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Sally has tried numerous high-profile cases.

 

Karen Hewitt is a former United States Attorney and an experienced trial lawyer who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court for more than two decades. She currently represents companies nationwide in civil and criminal investigations and in complex business litigation. Karen’s practice focuses on defending matters involving possible violations of federal law, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Taft-Hartley Act, and the False Claims Act. She is Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s California Region, which encompasses five offices and nearly 300 lawyers. She has been recognized in Chambers as a “real powerhouse.” Karen is President of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys.

Monty Wilkinson: Presentation: Update on EOUSA at San Diego Conference

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Monty Wilkinson will speak at the Annual Conference in San Diego with an update on currents activities at EOUSA.

Monty was appointed Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, on March 14, 2021. The Executive Office, created in 1953, provides general guidance and support to the 94 United States Attorneys’ offices and their more than 12,000 employees.

Prior to being appointed Director, Mr. Wilkinson served as the acting Attorney General from January 20, 2021, until Attorney General Garland was sworn in on March 11, 2021. He previously served as the Director of EOUSA from April 2014 until December 2017 and prior to that as its Principal Deputy Director and Chief of Staff.

During his career with the Department of Justice, Mr. Wilkinson has served as Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, and as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources and Administration. He also held senior management positions for nearly a decade in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Mr. Wilkinson started his career at the Department of Justice in 1990 as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division.

Mr. Wilkinson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Georgetown University Law Center. He is the recipient of a Department of Justice Special Achievement Award, a United States Attorney’s Office Distinguished Service Award, and the Attorney General’s Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award.

Neil MacBride Confirmed as General Counsel at Treasury

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On February 9, 2022, NAFUSA member Neil MacBride (ED Virginia) was confirmed by the United States Senate (61-33) to be the General Counsel at the Treasury Department. He was nominated to the post by President Biden on June 3, 2021. Before MacBride served as United States Attorney, he served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at Main Justice and earlier as Chief Counsel to then Senator Joe Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Most recently he has been a litigation partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and the head of the its Washington office and as co-head of the Firm’s Government Investigations Practice.

DAG Lisa Monaco: Keynote Speaker in San Diego

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NAFUSA is pleased to announce that Deputy Attorney General  Lisa O. Monaco will be the keynote speaker at the San Diego Annual Conference on April 8, 2022.

She is the 39th Deputy Attorney General of the United States.  As the Deputy Attorney General, she is the Department’s second-ranking official and is responsible for the overall supervision of the Department.  The Deputy Attorney General serves as the Chief Operating Officer, and the Department’s litigating and policy components, law enforcement agencies, and 93 U.S. Attorneys report to the Deputy.  The Deputy Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General in formulating and implementing the Department’s policies and programs.

A 15-year veteran of the Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Monaco served as a career federal prosecutor and in several leadership positions across the Department.  She began her Justice Department career as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno and went on to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) for the District of Columbia, where she was a member of the Enron Task Force and received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department’s highest award.  She thereafter served in several leadership roles:  Chief of Staff at the Federal Bureau of Investigation to then Director Robert S. Mueller, III; Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General; and Assistant Attorney General for National Security, the first woman to hold that position.

From 2013-2017, Deputy Attorney General Monaco was the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to the President.  In that role, she coordinated the Executive Branch’s policy and response to a wide range of security issues – including the response to international and domestic terrorist incidents, cyber threats, and natural disasters – and advised the President on all aspects of counterterrorism policy and strategy.

Deputy Attorney General Monaco has served in private practice and taught national security law.  She was born and raised in Massachusetts and is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.

White House Chooses Doug Jones to Guide Supreme Court Nominee

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According to The New York Times, NAFUSA member Doug Jones (ND Alabama 1997-2001) will serve as a guide for President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee during the Senate confirmation process. Jones was the first Democrat in decades to hold a United States Senate seat in Alabama, and seen by The Times as an olive branch offered by President Biden “as he frequently co-sponsored bipartisan legislation during his three years in the Senate.” Once a nominee is selected, Jones will introduce her to senators and prepare her for hearings.

Jones is a long time member of NAFUSA and would have been installed as president of NAFUSA in 2018 if he hadn’t stepped down to run for the Senate. On April 20, 2021, Doug was featured on a NAFUSA webinar entitled “Justice Delayed Not Justice Denied: The prosecutions of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing cases.”

NAFUSA Foundation Awards Scholarships to Four Legal Interns

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The NAFUSA Foundation has created the NAFUSA Foundation Intern Scholarship program which awards $5,000.00 scholarships to unpaid student interns who have performed outstanding work while interning at the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice and for their achievements in law school.  The Foundation has awarded its first four scholarships. 

Suzanne Bell, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff of EOUSA, and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices assisted the Foundation by recommending individuals who met the criteria set out by the Foundation. The recipients of the scholarships are Alana Cammack of the University of Alabama School of Law, nominated by the Middle District of Alabama; Hannah Cho of the University of California, Davis School of Law, nominated by the Western District of Washington; April Hartman of Loyola University, nominated by the EOUSA; and Kathryn Pflug of Notre Dame Law School, nominated by the District of Nebraska. These individuals’ work ethic, positive attitude, professionalism and drive will make them outstanding attorneys with a career path that we hope includes public service.

Thank you to Donna Bucella, Jessie Liu, Rich Rossman, Paul Coggins and Bill Lutz for coordinating these efforts with Foundation President, Edward L. Dowd, Jr.

We are delighted to be able to assist these very deserving young people.

Former US Marshals Service Leader Don Washington Returns to Jones Walker

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Jones Walker LLP announced on January 25, 2022 that NAFUSA member Donald “Don” Washington has returned to the firm as a partner in the Litigation Practice Group on the corporate compliance and white collar defense team in the Lafayette office. Don returns to the firm after serving as the director of the US Marshals Service from 2019 to 2021. Don is a former member of NAFUSA’s board of directors and was the treasurer until his federal appointment.

Speaking about his return, Don said, “While it was an honor to serve our country and lead the US Marshals Service, it is a pleasure to return home to my colleagues at Jones Walker. I look forward to collaborating with our team and being able to use some of my recent experience to enhance the exceptional client service we provide to our clients.”

During his service leading the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agency, he developed and established key agency priorities and strategies and oversaw the operations of nearly 5,500 US marshals, deputy marshals, criminal investigators, detention enforcement officers, and administrative staff. He led the storied agency through multiple operations to address the rise in violent crime, the turbulence of civil unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic occurring in the United States and its territories, while protecting the federal judiciary, witnesses, and courts.

Bill Hines, managing partner of Jones Walker, said, “We are very proud of Don’s leadership of the US Marshals Service, and we are pleased to have him as our partner again at Jones Walker. He is a respected member of our law firm and the greater legal industry, and I am certain that his most recent role and past experience in the US Attorney’s Office will bolster our ability to provide excellent client service and train the next generation of Jones Walker litigators and other attorneys.”

Earlier in his career, Don served as US Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana from 2001 to early 2010. As the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District of Louisiana, he led federal investigations and trial teams as well as prosecuted cases involving criminal and civil violations of federal law. While with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), he held a number of leadership positions, including on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee; the DOJ-sponsored Executive Committee for Federal Prosecutors, State Attorneys General and District Attorneys; and the DOJ’s Terrorism, Controlled Substances, and Native American Issues committees.

Jerry Martin’s Client Awarded $28.5M BY DOJ in FCA Settlement

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Jerry Martin

On August 2, 2021, the Department of Justice announced that mail-order testing supplier Arriva Medical LLC (Arriva), and its parent, Alere Inc.) Alere) have agreed to pay $160 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act. The settlement resolves allegations that Arriva and Alere made, or caused, claims to Medicare that were false because kickbacks were paid to Medicare beneficiaries, patients were ineligible to receive meters, or patients were deceased.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Gregory Goodman, a former employee at an Arriva call center in Antioch, Tennessee. Goodman was represented by NAFUSA member Jerry Martin (MD Tennessee 2010-2013). Under the FCA a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The Act also permits the United States to intervene and take over the litigation. as the government did here. Goodman will receive $28,548,749 as his share of the recovery.

According to the Tennessean, Martin called the win a “true David versus Goliath story,” and  said he was proud to still be able to work with the government of “Team America” from time to time.

Kathleen Sullivan: Supreme Court Update at San Diego Conference

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Kathleen M. Sullivan will give the United States Supreme Court Update at the San Diego NAFUSA Conference in April. She is partner and founding chair of the national appellate practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.  She has argued over 200 appeals including eleven in the U.S. Supreme Court.  Before joining the firm, Kathleen was a professor of law at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools and served as the eleventh Dean of Stanford Law School.  She holds a J.D. from Harvard, a B.A. from Cornell and an M.A. from Oxford (which she attended as a Marshall Scholar), and was a law clerk to Judge James L. Oakes on the Second Circuit.