Herb Stern Co-Authors Sequel to Wolf: “Sins of the Fathers”

NAFUSA life member Herbert J. Stern along with his co-author, Alan A. Winter, will soon release the sequel to Wolf (Skyhorse 2020) about Hitler’s rise to power – telling the dramatic true story of the foolish Prime Minister who delivered Czechoslovakia to Hitler, saved Hitler’s life, and paved the road to World War II. Reviews are already arriving:

“This one poses a fascinating question—could World War II have been avoided? The answer is going to shock you. Sins of the Fathers is a masterful blend of fact and fiction and will have you thinking about it long after the last page is read.”
STEVE BERRYNew York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cotton Malone series

“A superb and exciting blend of intrigue and history that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.”
WILLIAM BOYD, the Pulteney St. Survey, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

“I learned history from Barbara Tuchman, felt seat-of-the-pants tension with Robert Ludlum; however, neither one took me to that place of epiphany where an unexpected tear falls from the eye, yet Herb Stern and —Alan Winter do all three with an explosive ending as gut-wrenching as it is shocking. If this were a boxing match, it’s the punch you didn’t see coming.”
STEVE FOREMAN, screenwriter of The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond and author of the novels ToeholdChasing Gideon, and Journey’

Most people today do not realize that an anti-Nazi underground was at work to overthrow Adolf Hitler in Germany during the 1930s. Sins of the Fathers is an excellent novel, based on actual facts, about the anti-Hitler movement and its leaders, a courageous group of Germans who faced a horrible death at the hands of the Gestapo if they had been caught. If Britain had supported the underground movement, Hitler might have been overthrown and the Second World War might have been averted. I greatly enjoyed reading this book.”
DAVID ALAN JOHNSON, author of Righteous Deception: German Officers Against Hitler

Judge Stern served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey 1971-1974. In 1962-1965, he served as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, participating in the investigation of the assassination of Malcolm X. He also served in the Organized Crime and Racketeering section of the U.S. Department of Justice. He was appointed by President Nixon to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, serving from 1974-1987. He has authored several books on trial advocacy; and Judgment in Berlin, later made into a film.

Judge Stern is a partner and founding member of Stern, Kilcullen & Rufolo. He earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

The book is available to pre-order. See link below:

https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510769427/sins-of-the-fathers/

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Neil MacBride: Biden’s Choice for General Counsel at Treasury

On June 3, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that NASUSA member Neil MacBride is his nominee for General Counsel, Department of Treasury. MacBride is currently a litigation partner in the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he serves as head of its Washington, DC office and as co-head of the Firm’s Government Investigations Practice.

Before entering private practice, MacBride spent extensive time as a government official on law enforcement, national security, and financial enforcement matters.  He served in the Obama-Biden Administration, first as an Associate Deputy Attorney General for criminal enforcement in the U.S. Department of Justice and then as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. MacBride earlier served as Chief Counsel to then-Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.  He also served on the Biden-Harris and the Obama-Biden Transition Teams.  Earlier in his career, MacBride served as General Counsel to the Business Software Alliance and practiced law at the Washington, DC law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand.  He began his public service career clerking for the Honorable Henry C. Morgan, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

MacBride graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and Houghton College.  He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Christina Jackson MacBride and their three children.

Jury Trials During a Pandemic

Hon. Robert J. Conrad, Jr.

During the ongoing pandemic of 2020-2021 federal, state and local courts have struggled with the need to try jury cases. The Honorable Robert J. Conrad Jr., U.S. District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, has been involved with a courtroom design innovation called the “Virginia Revival Model” and found it to be helpful in improving the safety of courtrooms during the age of the covid.

According to Judge Conrad, the Virginia Model’s “essential features are a center-based jury box underneath the judge, facing out; a witness box in the center of the well looking directly at the judge and jury; and counsel tables on each side. In the 18th century, the Commonwealth of Virginia county courts were intentionally designed this way to place the jury where it should be — at the center of a jury trial, as opposed to off to the side, symbolizing the jury’s shared authority with the judge.”

In an interesting article first appearing as Robert J. Conrad Jr., Jury Trials in a Pandemic Age, 104 JUDICATURE No. 3 (Fall/Winter 2020-2021), Judge Conrad describes the reconfiguration of a ceremonial courtroom to make a big jury box out of the spectator section of the court in order to continue to try jury trials during a pandemic. To date, 41 jury trials have been tried in this format. A new federal courthouse has been built in Charlotte and one of the district courtrooms has been designed on the Virginia Revival Model. The first criminal jury trial in that courtroom was successfully conducted in June.

Judge Conrad served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina from 2001 to 2004. He spoke on the Berger case and in particular Justice Sutherland’s quote on the role of a U.S. Attorney to seek justice at NAFUSA’s 2016 conference in San Diego. Click here to read the full article:

Jury Trials in a Pandemic Age

 

Making the Case Podcast Features Hal Hardin

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office has created a podcast regarding the removal of Governor Ray Blanton in 1979. It features NAFUSA life member and past president Hal Hardin, Senator Lamar Alexander, and political consultant Tom Ingram. Hardin was the United States Attorney at the time and played a critical role.

You can access Making the Case on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just search “Making the Case” or “Tennessee Attorney General.”

AG Updates Memo on DOJ Communications With White House

On July 21, 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland formally updated the Justice Department’s governing communications between DOJ and the White House.

“The success of the Department of Justice depends upon the trust of the American people,” wrote Attorney General Garland. “That trust must be earned every day. And we can do so only through our adherence to the longstanding Departmental norms of independence from inappropriate influences, the principled exercise of discretion, and the treatment of like cases alike.”

Click here to read the entire memorandum:

attorney_general_memorandum_-_department_of_justice_communications_with_the_white_house_july_21_2021

Ken Polite Confirmed by US Senate as AAG of Criminal Division

The United States Senate on July 20, confirmed NAFUSA life member Kenneth Polite to serve as the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The vote was 56-44. He was nominated by President Biden on April 12, 2021. He served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 2013 to 2017, having been appointed by President Obama. Most recently he was a partner at Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia.

Paul Coggins Publishes Second Cash McCahill Book

 

Paul Coggins, immediate past president of NAFUSA, has released the second Cash McCahill novel, The Eye of the Tigress. The first, Sting Like A Butterfly, was published in 2020.

Paul Coggins is the co-chair of the White Collar and Government Investigations Section of Locke Lord. He is the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. A Rhodes Scholar, a graduate of Harvard Law School, and a former host of a popular radio call in show, Paul is also a frequent commentator for the media, and a contributor of articles to newspapers and magazines.   

The book is available to pre-order. Click here for more details

 

 

2022 NAFUSA conference will be held in San Diego April 6-8, 2022

2016 NAFUSA Conference at the Del Coronado

The 2022 NAFUSA conference is confirmed at the Hotel del Coronado. Due to the pandemic, it will be NAFUSA’s first conference since 2019 in San Francisco. Golf for those interested will be held at Torrey Pines north course the morning of Wednesday April 6, 2022. The conference will kick off Wednesday evening with an event from 6:30-9:30 pm at the hotel on the beach.  CLE programs will be on Thursday and Friday from 8:00 am to approximately noon.  An off site event will be planned for either Thursday or Friday afternoon for all to attend.  As usual, Thursday evening will be the class dinners.  We are looking for a “captain” from each administration to coordinate the class dinners.  Please reach out to Lisa Rafferty if you would like to take on that role. The conference will conclude Friday evening with a dinner and key note speaker.  The conference committee is working hard to put together an amazing program.  Details will be released once speakers are confirmed.  Keep an eye on our monthly newsletters for updates on the conference.  Registration will open in January 2022.

Greg Scott Joins King & Spalding

King & Spalding announced on June 17, 2021 that McGregor (Greg) Scott, most recently the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, will join the firm as a partner in the firm’s Special Matters and Government Investigations team. He will be based in San Francisco and Sacramento. Scott is a lifetime member of NAFUSA and a former board member.

Scott was twice nominated by the president and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, from 2001 to 2009 and from 2017 to 2021. As U.S. Attorney, he oversaw federal prosecutions and civil litigation from 34 counties and supervised 100 attorneys. In between those stints, he was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he vice chaired its White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice Group. An experienced trial lawyer, Scott has represented major companies across multiple industries—including health care, retail and construction—that faced government investigations. He also has deep experience on matters involving consumer protection, construction accidents, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the False Claims Act.

“Greg is a natural leader with exceptional talent and energy,” said Zach Fardon, who leads King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice, which includes the Special Matters and Government Investigations team. “He will be a force multiplier for King & Spalding in his ability to provide clients with representation on both criminal as well as civil/regulatory governmental investigations.” King & Spalding now has nine former United States Attorneys with Scott joining Zach Fardon, John Richter, Craig Carpenito, Rod Rosenstein, John Horn, Sally Yates, Jim Vines and Paul Murphy.

Prior to his federal government post, Scott was twice elected District Attorney of Shasta County, and prior to that was a deputy district attorney in Contra Costa “With a stellar runway of experience and deep connections in the DOJ and California legal community, Greg is well-positioned to further expand our investigations and litigation work on the West Coast, nationally and globally,” said San Francisco office managing partner Charles Correll. “He also has a reputation for working in a collaborative and pragmatic fashion. He’ll be a formidable asset to the firm.”

Scott retired in 2008 as a lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve after 23 years of service as an infantry officer. He earned his JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and his undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University.

“I had the privilege of working directly with several King & Spalding lawyers in two previous presidential administrations, persons for whom I have the greatest personal and professional respect,” said Scott. “I believe great results will be created for clients when my network across the nation in general and in California in particular is added to King & Spalding’s exemplary client base and legal firepower. I could not be more pleased to be joining this great law firm.”