Fred Thieman Returns to the Practice of Law

NAFUSA member Frederick W. Thieman (WDPA 1993-1997), who served as President of the Buhl Foundation, Pittsburgh’s oldest multi-purpose foundation, since 2007, has returned to the practice of law with a new office focused on arbitration and mediation of complex commercial matters, multi-party litigation, fraud and white collar crime related matters, and large scale community tensions. For more information, see www.thiemanlegal.com.

Fred also was the recipient of Pittsburgh’s Academy of Trial Lawyers ’“Joseph M Weis Jr. Distinguished Service Award” for substantial contributions to the judicial system and legal profession.

 

GlassRatner to Become B. Riley Advisory Services

GlassRatner has been a NAFUSA sponsor since 2017. Bert Lacativo has been a regular at our conferences and a long time friend of NAFUSA. Approximately two years ago GlassRatner merged with B. Riley Financial and on August 10, 2020, GlassRatner announced it will become B. Riley Advisory Services.  They will continue as a NAFUSA sponsor through 2021 under the new name.

B. Riley Financial  has expanded its platform to a 1,000-person strong diversified financial services company, which has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor, strategic partner and value investor serving thousands of clients, partners and stakeholders across the United States and abroad. Today, B. Riley offers a full suite of end-to-end services and solutions through a combination of complementary businesses, which provide investment banking, capital markets, forensic accounting and litigation support, restructuring, retail liquidation, appraisal and valuation, capital management and wealth management services.

 

 

Supreme Court Ruling Leads to Flood of New Cases for US Attorney

On July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that much of eastern Oklahoma falls within an Indian reservation. In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the court ruled, 5 to 4, that Indigenous people who commit crimes on the eastern Oklahoma reservation, which includes much of Tulsa, cannot be prosecuted by state or local law enforcement, and must instead face justice in tribal or federal courts.

Jimcy McGirt, a Seminole man was found guilty in a state court of sex crimes that occurred within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s historical boundaries. Justice Neil M. Gorsch, wrote the opinion, siding with the court’s more liberal members. He wrote that “the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law.” McGirt is expected to be retried in federal court.

As a result, local prosecutors are referring murders, robberies and sexual assaults to federal prosecutors. who have responsibility for major crimes on tribal lands. Lesser cases are being referred to tribal courts. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Tulsa files about 250 felony cases annually, compared with the 6,000 felonies that churn through Tulsa’s county courts each year. “It’s unprecedented,” R. Trent Shores, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma told the New York Times.

Retirement Under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)

NAFUSA member David Iglesias found out by accident recently that his 5.5 years of DOJ service, plus one year of White House Fellowship entitled him to a small retirement income at age 62. David wondered if other NAFUSA members may have forgotten about this benefit.

Here is what he learned from his former administrative officer:

“As long as he did not take a refund for his retirement contributions and he has at least five years of creditable service, he can apply for deferred retirement at age 62.  He should complete the application 60 days prior to his 62nd birthday if possible.”

This is the link to FERS deferred retirement pamphlet –https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/publications-forms/pamphlets/ri92-19a.pdf

AND

The link for the application for deferred retirement- https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/ri92-19.pdf“

Don Washington Explains The Role of US Marshals Service in Portland

NAFUSA member Don Washington (WD Louisiana 2001-2010) was elected treasurer of NAFUSA in 2018. He stepped down early in his term when he was appointed by President Trump to serve as the director of the United States Marshal Service. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 14, 2019.

On July 29, 2020, Director Washington was interviewed by Fox News regarding the role of the Marshals in Portland, Oregon during the current protests at the federal courthouse. He explains that the role of the Marshal Service since 1789 has been to protect the Article III judicial function. He says his job is to see that peaceful protesters are protected and that federal law is enforced.

Click here to see the full interview: Donald Washington, U.S. Marshals Service Director 7/29/2020

Ken Wainstein Joins Lisa Monaco in New Podcast on “United Security”

CAFE Studios announced on July 15, 2020, the launch of the United Security podcast, co-hosted by former top White House advisers Ken Wainstein and Lisa Monaco. Ken is the current secretary of NAFUSA. CAFE Studios is a media venture “dedicated to better informing the public about the most critical issues of our time by exploring how law and justice intersect with politics, security, technology and ultimately, every aspect of our society.” It was co-founded by NAFUSA member Preet Bharara.

 

 

The announcement describes how United Security will operate:

Every two weeks, Lisa and Ken will break down politically-charged national security issues making the headlines and give listeners a window into the debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office. 

 

Lisa and Ken, who served at the highest levels of government throughout their distinguished careers, have followed a strikingly similar path. Most recently, they were Homeland Security advisers to Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, respectively.  They both led the Justice Department’s National Security Division, served as Chief of Staff to Robert Mueller at the FBI, and spent their early career at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

 

In the inaugural episode, “Bounties, Bolton, and COVID-19,” Lisa and Ken make sense of reports of a Russian bounty program targeting American troops in Afghanistan, the questions and concerns raised by the publication of John Bolton’s book, and the latest on the resurgence of the Coronavirus. The second episode will be broadcast on Friday, July 24, 2020.  

 

Syracuse Law Honors Tom Maroney

 

The 2020 Syracuse Law Honors Awards Recipients at the Syracuse University College of Law include NAFUSA member Professor Emeritus Thomas J. Maroney L’63. Here is the announcement from Syracuse Law:

 

 

 

Thomas J. Maroney is a Professor of Law Emeritus (2011). He is a magna cum laude graduate of Syracuse University (B.A., 1961) and the College of Law (LL.B., 1963) and a member of the honor societies Phi Kappa Phi, the Order of the Coif, and the Justinian Society.

 

Maroney’s interest in history and government led him to major in political science in college, concentrate on public law courses in law school, and pursue a a career teaching and writing about public law, emphasizing Constitutional law and the related subjects of federal jurisdiction, federal criminal law, civil rights, and Constitutional criminal procedure. Among his activities in law school, Maroney was student Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Survey of New York Law and a Notes Editor for the Syracuse Law Review.

 

After a research fellowship at Michigan Law and practicing law with White and Case in New York City, Maroney returned to his alma mater to teach, beginning in the 1967-1968 school year (one of his students in the legislation course was a young man named Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68). Maroney also has been a visiting professor at the Cornell and Colorado law schools, and a lecturer at the US Naval War College. Maroney is a member of the New York Bar and is admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court and the state and federal trial and appellate courts in the State of New York .

 

Maroney has been the Assistant New York State Attorney General in Charge of the Syracuse Regional Office (1979-1981) and the US Attorney for the 32-county Northern District of New York (1994-1999). In 1983 he ran unsuccessfully for Onondaga County District Attorney, losing to the incumbent by 622 votes out of 134,000 votes cast. Maroney has long been a Labor Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, the NY Public Employment Relations Board (and by direct appointment of numerous parties), and he has taught Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation at the College of Law.

 

Maroney also has been active in our community as a volunteer attorney for and President of the local ACLU chapter; a 15-year member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary serving as Commander of Flotilla 2-1, Phoenix, NY, and Division Operations Officer, Division II, 9th District, Eastern Region; and a member of and Fire Police Officer for the Fayetteville Fire Department.

 

Maroney is married to Dr. Mary Katharine Maroney G’92, a Distinguished Emerita Professor and Director of Nursing at Utica College. He and Dr. Maroney, their children and their siblings hold a total of 14 degrees from Syracuse University. GO ORANGE!

Audrey Strauss Named Acting U.S. Attorney for SDNY

In the aftermath of the firing of Geoffrey Berman as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, his top deputy, Audrey Strauss, was named the Acting U.S. Attorney for the office. Strauss will likely serve until a presidentially appointed successor is confirmed by the Senate. President Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the permanent post, but there is some doubt whether confimation will take place before the November election.

 

Strauss becomes the second woman to head the Southern District following Mary Jo White, who served from 1993 to 2002. Strauss served in the Southern District from 1976 to 1983, including time as the chief of criminal appeals and the securities fraud unit. When Berman became the U.S. Attorney in 2018, he brought Strauss out of retirement to become his senior counsel and later his deputy. They also worked together on the independent counsel’s investigation into the Iran-contra scandal.

 

Strauss spent more than two decades at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where she led the white-collar criminal defense group. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School.