Tony Valukas

Crain’s Chicago Business reported on April 18, 2017, that NAFUSA member Anton “Tony” Valukas has stepped down as the chairman of Jenner & Block. Valukas has served as chairman since 2007. He will remain with Jenner as a senior partner.

Valukas served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1985 to 1989. He has also served as the Justice Department appointed examiner of the downfall of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and represented the bankrupt assets of GM during the SEC investigation of the company’s pension accounting. In 2014, he issued his report of his internal investigation of General Motors regarding the failure of the company to fix a deadly safety defect, which was alleged to have led to at least 13 deaths.

He is a Fellow of the American College of TrIal Lawyers. He has been an instructor at the John Marshall School of Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. He is a graduate of Northwestern School of Law.

Ed Tarver

Edward J. Tarver resigned as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia on March 11, 2017 and on March 26, 2017 announced the formation of Enoch Tarver P.C. in Augusta, Georgia. Tarver also joined NAFUSA in March following the announcement.

“I am extremely excited about this fantastic opportunity to merge with J Edward Enoch, P.C. It will be the firm that you select when professionalism, integrity and accountability matter,” said Tarver. “Ed Tarver and I began practicing in Augusta 25 years ago at the two largest firms in the area. Now we bring our years of experience serving clients in the government and private sector to form a new firm dedicated to providing the highest quality legal service available,” said J. Edward Enoch.

Tarver served in the United States Army for seven years as a Field Artillery Officer before entering law school. After law school, Tarver worked as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Dudley H. Bowen, Jr., former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia before entering private practice with Hull, Towill, Norman and Barrett (currently Hull Barrett) practicing general civil litigation and representing governmental entities.

While still in private practice, Tarver was elected to and served for five years in the Georgia General Assembly representing State Senate District 22. In the Georgia Senate, Tarver held the position of Secretary of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee and served on the Appropriations, Economic Development, Government Oversight, Military Affairs and Special Judiciary Committees. Tarver also served on the Criminal Justice, Judicial and Public Safety Subcommittees to Appropriations, and on the Joint Economic Development Subcommittee of Regulatory Reform.
Tarver was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the 48th United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, in September 2009. Tarver was the first African-American United States Attorney in the Southern District of Georgia.

Tarver served on the Attorney General Advisory Committee’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture Working Group, the Civil Rights Subcommittee and the White Collar/Fraud Subcommittee. He was also an active member of the Department of Justice’s Racial Disparities Working Group.

In a recent Opinion-Editorial, the Savannah Now opined that Tarver was “tough on crime, especially violent drug dealing,” Tough on public corruption,” and that he took a hard line against fraudsters.”

Tarver graduated from Augusta University (formerly Augusta College) with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and then earned his law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law.

Barbara McQuade

The University of Michigan Law School announced on March 14, 2017, that former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, (ED Michigan 2010-2017), will join the faculty as a professor from practice, effective May 1, 2017. She will teach in the areas of national security, criminal law, and criminal procedure. She is also NAFUSA’s newest member.

“As a U.S. attorney, Barb oversaw more than 1,000 cases a year and a team of more than 100 attorneys. Her legacy includes an impressive number of important convictions, and our students will benefit tremendously from the experience and perspective she brings to the classroom,” said Mark D. West, University of Michigan Law School Dean and Nippon Life Professor of Law. “I am thrilled to welcome Barb home to Michigan Law as a member of our faculty.”

“I am honored to return to Michigan Law to teach the next generation of law students at a critical moment in our nation’s history. Michigan’s unique learning environment opened a new world of ideas for me when I was a student there, and I am thrilled to join its great faculty,” McQuade said. “Helping students to develop a deep understanding of our laws, courts, and legal system has never been more important.”

McQuade, the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, was appointed by President Barack Obama, and sworn in on January 4, 2010. During her tenure, she oversaw many significant cases, including the conviction of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and more than 30 others on public corruption charges; the conviction and life sentence of an Al-Qaeda operative for attempting to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009; the conviction and 45-year sentence of Dr. Farid Fata for Medicare fraud; the conviction and $4.3 billion fine against Volkswagen AG relating to emissions tests; the conviction and $1 billion fine against Takata Corp. for fraudulently concealing defective airbags; and settlements with local municipalities regarding enforcement of religious land use laws. McQuade also served as vice chair of the U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee under Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and served as co-chair of the Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee from 2010 to 2017.

Before becoming a U.S. attorney, McQuade was an assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit for 12 years, serving as deputy chief of the National Security Unit. She prosecuted cases involving terrorism financing, foreign agents, export violations and threats, and served as the district’s crisis management coordinator. McQuade practiced law at the firm of Butzel Long in Detroit from 1993 to 1998, and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Bernard A. Friedman on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1991 to 1993. From 2003 to 2009, McQuade served as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, teaching criminal law in the evenings. Born in Detroit, McQuade is a 1987 graduate of the University of Michigan and a 1991 graduate of Michigan Law.

NAFUSA member Zane David Memeger told Law 360 in an interview published March 31, 2017, that he predicts no falloff in False Claims Act enforcement under AG Jeff Sessions.

“[Sessions] indicted that, from his perspective, the False Claims Act was a very valuable tools in terms of rooting out fraud, waste and abuse,” Memeger said. “He indicated he sees value in whistleblowers, he believes whistleblowers ensure that companies try to do the right thing, because if you’re concerned about having whistleblowers in your organization, the last thing you want them to do is go forward to the government. And he indicated that enforcement of the False Claims Act would continue under his administration.”

Law 360 “Ex-Philly US Attorney Predicts No Falloff in FCA Enforcement

Memeger served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1995 until January of this year, when he stepped down to rejoin Morgan Lewis. In the 2014 fiscal year, the $2.3 billion in fines and settlements brought in by the ED of Pennsylvania was “almost 10 percent of the total collected by the Department of Justice, reported Law 360.

NAFUSA President Bart Daniel announced that the October NAFUSA conference to be held in Washington, DC, will include a panel discussion on the False Claims Act, moderated by NAFUSA member Jack Selden, and featuring Michael Granston, Director of the Civil Fraud Section, US Department of Justice.

William J. Hochul Jr.

One of NAFUSA’s newest members, William J. Hochul Jr., serves as General Counsel and Secretary for Delaware North, a global leader in hospitality and food service.  With over 60,000 employees and operating on four continents, Delaware North is one of the most admired, privately-held companies in the world.  Delaware North also owns and operates businesses involved in gaming, sports, resorts, travel and more.

As General Counsel and Secretary, Hochul manages the legal function for the company and provides advice and counsel to senior management in all legal matters involving Delaware North or its operating companies. His responsibilities also include oversight of the company’s numerous regulatory and legal compliance requirements, along with its vast array of licenses throughout the world.  Hochul also oversees the Security and External Affairs Departments.

Prior to joining Delaware North in 2016, Hochul served as United States attorney for the Western District of New York – a position he began in 2010, when the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed him following nomination by President Barack Obama. Hochul managed a staff of more than 100 attorneys, paralegals, and support personnel while overseeing the prosecution of all federal criminal cases brought within the 17 counties of Western New York. His office also represented the United States in all civil matters brought within the district.

Under Hochul’s leadership, the office successfully implemented numerous strategies, organizational initiatives, and public outreach programs designed to keep the community safe, and also successfully prosecuted crimes involving terrorism, narcotics, the environment, identity theft, and cyber-related offenses. The office’s civil litigation returned hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. taxpayers. Hochul also served as the chief federal law enforcement official for the area.

Hochul began his legal career as a law clerk to a Maryland Court of Appeals judge, and thereafter joined the litigation section at the Washington office of a large international law firm, where he represented a wide variety of clients in complex civil litigation matters. Hochul joined the U.S. Department of Justice in 1987 as an Assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia before moving to the Western District of New York in 1991. Hochul became chief of the office’s anti-terrorism unit following September 11, 2001, and chief of the national security division in 2006. He served as lead prosecutor in several high-profile international terrorism cases, including the highly successful prosecution of the internationally known Lackawanna Six, the first known instance of Americans traveling to train with al Qaeda.

Hochul has received many dozens of awards and honors for his work, including co-recipient of the 2003 Attorney Generals Award for Exceptional Service – the highest award of the U.S. Department of Justice. He served as an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, Hilbert College and Niagara University, and has also lectured, both domestically and abroad, on a wide variety of topics including anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism, public corruption, rule of law, and more.

Hochul graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1981, and earned his law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School in 1984.  Hochul also received recently his mini-MBA from Boston University, Questrom School of Business.  Hochul is married to Kathy, the current New York State Lieutenant Governor and a former Member of Congress.