NAFUSA member Peter F. Vaira (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1978-1983) joined the Philadelphia law firm of Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle, Funt & Flores (GPEFF) in March, 2014. Vaira will serve as special counsel. In announcing his joining the firm, GPEFF stated:

Peter’s over 50 years of practice, during which he has handled the most complex criminal and civil matters in state and federal court, has earned him a reputation as one of the most respected attorneys in the region. Mr. Vaira is also a widely sought after arbitrator, mediator, special master, and independent hearing officer with numerous years of experience in the field of alternative dispute resolution.

Mr. Vaira will direct GPEFF’s alternative dispute resolution practice while also working alongside Michael J. Engle who leads our white collar practice group. We are honored to have such a tremendously accomplished attorney practicing law with our talented team of trial lawyers.

 

Founded over 20 years ago as an aggressive criminal defense law practice, GPEFF  has since become an established, full-service law firm, with offices in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. www.gpeff.com.

Vaira has written many fine articles in The Legal Intelligencer. Click here The Legal Intelligencer, June 17, 2014 (1) to read his most recent, Protecting Law Firms From Increasing Cyberattacks.

NAFUSA member Joe Whitely, shown above at the 2013 NAFUSA conference in Washington, will co-chair the program for the September 11-12, 2014 ABA Criminal Justice Section Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute. It will be held at the Chateuau Elan Inn in Brasselton, Georgia, and will feature several NAFUSA members as speakers: Bart Daniel, Rick Deane, Tom Dillard and Jack Selden.

Click here to view the program and registration information: ABA CJS Southeastern White Collar Crime Institute 2014 (as of June 18, 2014).

NAFUSA member Bill Leone (Colorado 2004-2006) has been chosen to lead the white collar and government investigations practice in the New York office of Norton Rose Fulbright. Bill served as US Attorney in Colorado and led  several high profile, complex white collar investigations including the prosecution of Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio. 

Norton Rose Fulbright, one of NAFUSA’s sponsors, is the 3^rd largest law firm in the world following the combination of Norton Rose LLP and Fulbright & Jaworski, with 55 offices around the globe, including North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Bill will continue to spend time in Denver where he maintains his practice and has led the litigation group for the past three years. Bill’s practice includes investigations in the energy, medical device, health care and technology sectors, as well as a portfolio of white collar cases and civil and criminal trials. 

On June 5, 2014, NAFUSA member Anton “Tony” Valukas issued his report of his internal investigation of General Motors regarding the failure of the company to fix a deadly safety defect, which is alleged to have led to at least 13 deaths. Read the entire report here.

As a result of the investigation and report, GM dismissed 15 employees, including a vice president for regulatory affairs and a senior lawyer responsible for product liability cases. The report is expected to lead to broad changes in how GM handles vehicle safety.

Valukas was critical of the GM bureaucracy. “The Cobalt ignition switch passed through an astonishing number of committees,” he wrote. “But determining the identity of any actual decision-maker was impenetrable.”

The Valukas report, however, did clear Mary T. Barra G.M.’s chief executive, and Michael Millikin, the general counsel. Valukas found no evidence of a deliberate cover-up.

Valukas is the chairman of Jenner & Block LLP and served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1985 to 1989. He also served as the Justice Department appointed examiner of the downfall of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.

NAFUSA lifetime member John Ratcliffe defeated Rep. Ralph Hall on Tuesday, 53%-47% in a GOP primary runoff for the 4th Congressional District of Texas, which covers the northeast corner of the state. Hall, the 90 year old GOP incumbent, the oldest member of Congress, has served 34 years or 17 terms. Hall is the first incumbent to lose renomination this cycle.  With no Democratic candidate, Ratcliffe will be unopposed in November, and will join fellow NAFUSA member Susan Brooks in Congress.

Ratcliffe served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, 2007-2008. He had served as first assistant to NAFUSA President-Elect Matt Orwig, and succeeded Orwig when the latter returned to private practice.

Ratcliffe is currently a partner with the Ashcroft Law Firm in the Dallas office. He earned his Juris Doctor at the Southern Methodist University School of Law. He has served as adjunct professor of law at both SMU and Texas Wesleyan University. He also served as mayor of Heath, Texas for eight years.

In an article in the Thursday, May 22, 2014, issue of The New York Times entitled From Virginia, Chasing Down Credit Suisse, NAFUSA member Neil MacBride is featured for his former leadership of the Eastern District of Virginia. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and has an office in New York, but its only contact with MacBride’s district was the fact that a Credit Suisse client flew out of Dulles Airport on his way to Zurich. That fact justified the indictment which led this week to the bank pleading guilty to helping thousands of American clients hide their wealth overseas.

The Times article discusses how MacBride, now a partner at Davis Polk, and his colleagues in the ED of Virginia were aggressive in claiming jurisdiction in a number of other cases as well to bring financial investigations into their district.

“There was a huge financial crisis that rocked the world, and it didn’t matter to us if the frauds occurred within the four corners of our district or around the globe,” said Mr. MacBride, who left behind investigations involving 60 countries when he left office last September.

 

Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times

The Justice Department announced on Thursday, May 22, 2014, that the F.B.I. and other federal agencies would be required to videotape interviews with suspects in most instances. The F.B.I. had previously opposed videotaping, arguing that the tapes could reveal agents’ interrogation tactics and discourage witnesses from talking.

NAFUSA member Paul Charlton, shown right, former U.S. Attorney in Arizona, had been vocal in his opposition to the former policy during his term in office, and had reached out to Director Jim Comey’s staff urging a change. The New York Times in an article entitled In Policy Change, Justice Dept. to Require Recording of Interrogations, quotes Charlton at length on the change:

Charlton said federal prosecutors were unnecessarily losing cases because they were unable to present to jurors the most damning evidence available to them: videotaped confessions.

 

“The most difficult part of proving a crime is the state of mind, and that is almost always obtained through a statement of the suspect,” Mr. Charlton, now a lawyer in private practice, said in telephone interview.

 

“It was an unjustifiable policy,” he said. “I think this is one of the most significant improvements in the criminal justice system in a long time.”

In case you noticed that the posts have been few and far between this month, the reason is that Executive Director Rich Rossman, along with his wife, Patty, and former Executive Director Ron Woods and his wife, Patty, visited Russia for a two week river cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Any pre-trip concerns about the impact of the increased tensions over the Ukraine were quickly forgotten in touring this great and wonderful country. As Winston Churchill once said, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Your editor, however, is now back to work. I hope I haven’t missed any important news. Please feel free to email any member news that should be shared.

Rich & Patty Rossman, Ron & Patty Woods on the Moscow River, May 19, 2014