Pete Williams will give the keynote address on September 28, 2013 at the JW Marriott Washington. Williams is an NBC News correspondent based in Washington. He has been covering the Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court since March 1993.
Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named assistant secretary of defense, Williams was appointed assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. While in that position, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators.
A native of Casper, Wyoming and a graduate of Stanford University, Williams was a reporter and news director at KTWO-TV and Radio in Casper from 1974 to 1985. Working with the Radio-Television News Directors Association, for which he served as a member of its board of directors, he successfully lobbied the Wyoming Supreme Court to permit broadcast coverage of its proceedings and twice sued Wyoming judges over pre-trial exclusion of reporters from the courtroom. For these efforts, he received a First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Williams will also moderate the panel of the Supreme Court to be held on Saturday morning. The panel will feature NAFUSA member Ted Olson and prominent Supreme Court practioneer, Carter Phillips.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP announced on September 13, 2013, that NAFUSA member Charles J. Stevens has returned to the firm in its San Francisco office as a partner. Stevens, a former Gibson Dunn partner, joins more than 40 former Justice Department lawyers at the firm, including NAFUSA members Ted Olson and Debra Yang.
Stevens will practice in the areas of government and internal investigations, compliance reviews, and white collar defense with focus on antitrust, health care fraud, False Claims Act (FCA), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and procurement fraud, as well as related complex civil litigation alleging fraud, unfair competition and unfair business practices.
Stevens began his career as an associate with Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles office. He then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Public Corruption and Government Contract Fraud Unit in the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He returned to Gibson Dunn and became a partner in 1990.
In 1993, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California by President Clinton. Then 35 years old, he was one of the youngest U.S. Attorneys in the country. In this role, he oversaw the district’s two offices and 150 employees and created and supervised the implementation of multiple initiatives, including affirmative civil enforcement of the False Claims Act, civil rights, health care fraud and political corruption. During his tenure, he was appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.
Following his service as U.S. Attorney, Stevens and NAFUSA member George O’Connell founded the boutique litigation firm, Stevens, O’Connell & Jacobs LLP, which focused on government and internal investigations. He spend the last year as a mediator with JAMS, one of NAFUSA’s 2013 sponsors, focusing on matters involving government claims, such as the False Claims Act and teaching a mediation course U.C. Davis Law School. He has also taught classes in government investigations and professional responsibility. He is a 1982 graduate of University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he served as Senior Note and Comment Editor of the California Law Review.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world’s top law firms in industry in industry surveys and major publications with 1,100 lawyers and 18 offices.
NAFUSA member Catherine Hanaway has joined, effective September 3, 2013, the St. Louis office of Husch Blackwell. She will lead the firm’s Government Compliance and Investigations team. Hanaway served as the first female Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives (2003-2005) and as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri (2005-2009) before returning to private practice with the Ashcroft Law Firm. She earned her J.D. from The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America (1990) and began her legal career at the law firm Peper, Martin, Jensen, Maichel & Hetlage, a predecessor firm to Husch Blackwell.
On how she feels about her move, Hanaway said,
When I left Peper Martin 20 years ago, the firm had about 100 attorneys in four offices. Now, Husch Blackwell has offices in 16 U.S. cities, including three newly added locations in Texas, and an exciting strategic direction and industry focus. The firm’s focus on clients and deep immersion into their industries, their worlds and their issues is compelling, and I’m thrilled to join the team at this exciting time.
Husch Blackwell LLP is a full-service litigation and business law firm with attorneys in locations across the United States and in London, serving clients with domestic and international operations. They represent national and global leaders in major industries that include agribusiness, food and beverage, energy, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, real estate, construction, manufacturing, technology and transportation.
Each year, NAFUSA recognizes an Assistant U.S. Attorney for outstanding performance through the J. Michael Bradford Memorial Award. The award is named after J. Michael Bradford, who served as a U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas from 1994 to 2001. Bradford, who died in 2003, had a distinguished career in public service, including successfully defending the government against lawsuits stemming from the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian’s compound in Waco, Texas. NAFUSA annually solicits nominations from current U.S. Attorneys for the Bradford Award. Typically, the recipient has handled a significant investigation and prosecution or series of prosecutions that has had a significant impact and merits special recognition.
Once again, a number of exceptional nominations were made by U.S. Attorneys around the country. The Michael Bradford Award Committee was chaired by NAFUSA Vice President Matt Orwig. Its members included Ed Dowd, Hal Hardin, Karen Hewitt, Paul Coggins, Joe Whitley and Rich Rossman. This year, the Board voted to give the award to Michael Bosworth.
Bosworth, shown above, is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and was nominated by his U.S. Attorney, Preet Bharara. Bosworth currently is the co-chief of the Complex Frauds Unit in the SDNY. In that role, he oversees the Office’s criminal prosecutions of financial fraud, cybercrime, tax fraud, health care fraud, intellectual property crimes, and FCPA violations, among other white collar crimes. Prior to his current assignment, he served as deputy chief of the Public Corruption Unit, where he successfully prosecuted former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, former New York State Senator Carl Kruger, and financial advisor Kenneth Starr. Mr. Bosworth clerked for the Honorable Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York. He graduated Princeton University summa cum laude in 2000 and graduated Yale Law School in 2003.
Bosworth supervises a team of senior AUSAs who handle the most complex cases in the SDNY. Perhaps his most notable case in the past year was the case against prominent hackers in the “Anonymous” case. He also handled the overseas tax evasion initiative of the office which led to the indictment and conviction of Wegelin & Co., Switzerland’s oldest bank, for conspiring with U.S. taxpayers to conceal more than $1.2 billion kept in Swiss bank accounts. He was also the driving force behind numerous financial fraud cases including the prosecution of of the massive $1 billion fraud in which employees of the Long Island Rail Road retired early and falsely claimed to be disabled; a $100 million fraud in which brokers defrauded insurance companies into issuing stranger-owned life insurance policies; and a $66 million mortgage fraud that resulted in the convictions of five corrupt attorneys.
Preet Bharara told the Bradford Award committee that Bosworth “is a mentor to others in the office.” He sees Bosworth as a practical thinker with a “great sense of humor.” In addition to his work in the office, Bosworth volunteers on weekends and nights on a suicide hotline.
Bosworth will be presented with the Bradford Award on Saturday, September 28, 2013, at NAFUSA’s conference in Washington.
The Board considered many other outstanding nominations made by U.S. Attorneys. In recognition for the exceptional work performed by these other assistant U.S. attorneys, NAFUSA will award a plaque to each AUSA, which will be presented by the U.S. Attorney in their respective office, along with in some cases a member of NAFUSA from that district.
The other nominees were:
Michael K. Atkinson, nominated by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., District of Columbia, for his work in connection with his prosecution of Operation Five Aces, a $1 billion domestic bribery/federal contracting case.
Aloke S. Charkravarty, nominated by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, District of Massachusetts for his work in high profile national security cases and outreach to Arab, Sikh and Muslim communities.
Randal A. Sengel, nominated by the Western District of Oklahoma for a lifetime of achievement, including service on the Nichols prosecution team.
Elizabeth S. Tonkin, nominated by United States Attorney William C. Killian, Eastern District of Tennessee, for her work in settling the Hill-Rom case, a $41.8 million settlement with one of the nation’s largest suppliers of durable medical equipment.
Nichole A. Engisch, nominated by United States Attorney B. Todd Jones, District of Minnesota, for her work in prosecuting two of the largest corporate fraud cases in Minnesota history.
Deborah A. Griffin, nominated by the Southern District of Alabama for her work in prosecuting a conspiracy involving eBay and black market sales of stolen and fraudulently-obtained electronics.
Sheldon N. Light, nominated by United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade, Eastern District of Michigan, for his work in prosecuting public corruption and white collar cases.
Brian D. Pugh, nominated by United States Attorney Daniel G. Bogden, District of Nevada, for his prosecution of major mortgage fraud cases.
Robert H. Norman, nominated by the Northern District of Mississippi for his his prosecution of a series of prosecutions of judicial bribery cases, including Richard Scruggs.
John L. Walker, nominated by United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley, Western District of Louisiana, for his work in prosecuting the Dreamboard Child Exploitation cases, resulting in 46 convictions.
John J. Durham, nominated by United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, Eastern District of New York, for his prosecution of members of the notorious street gang, La Mara Salvatrucha (“MS-13”).
Barbara Bearnson, nominated by United States Attorney David B. Barlow, District of Utah, for her work in prosecution of sexual and physical abuse cases.
NAFUSA board member Tom Maroney will be unable to attend the September conference in Washington. Tom fell on August 16 at his home in Syracuse and fractured his neck. His wife, Mary Kay, reports that he “got up Friday evening and in a sleepy state walked down our upstairs hall in the dark, turning towards the stairs. He fell the full length of the stairs and fractured and dislocated the cervical vertebrae (C5 and C6). He was transported by ambulance to our trauma center where he had emergency surgery both Sunday and Tuesday to repair the damage. Due to the nature of the injury he is very fortunate to be alive and have some movement in his arms and legs. The doctors are calling it a miracle as his injury to the spine and spinal cord usually result in paraplegia or death. The past week has been a very rocky rollercoaster with intubation, resuscitation, surgery, and overall fragile stability…. His brain is as sharp as ever and his greatest frustration is the very constricting neck collar which makes you feel like you are being strangled.”
On August 30, Mary Kay advised that, “Tom continues to make slow but steady progress but we are looking at months of rehab with the goal of full function of his arms and hands. The MDs are very optimistic and have told us they expect ‘full recovery in 6 – 9 months’. Of course this is the goal and Tom is working hard to make that a reality.
Yesterday he was transferred from Upstate University Hospital to the Acute Care Rehab Unit (located at Upstate at Community General Hospital). He is in Rm 424 there. This morning at 7:30 he began physical therapy followed by occupational therapy for about 3 hrs/day. We expect he will remain in the Rehab Unit there for about 2 weeks. Then we hope the next step is home for in-home PT and OT.”
Tom and Mary Kay, shown below at the Atlanta conference, will be missed in Washington, but we will hope and pray for an early and full recovery. If you wish to send a note, his address is: Upstate University Hospital at Community Campus 4E Room 424, 4900 Broad Rd, Syracuse, New York 13215.
NAFUSA board member Joe Whitley was named chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (AdLaw) Section at the just concluded ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The section is home to nearly 13,000 lawyers from across the United States. Whitley is a shareholder in the Atlanta and Washington offices of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
As chair of the AdLaw Section, Whitley follows in the footsteps of many notable past chairs, including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Professor Cass Sunstein, former Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Obama Administration.
Under Whitley’s leadership, the section will focus on growing its membership, and continuing the programs and publishing that are hallmarks of the section. Whitley also will focus on building regional strength for the AdLaw Section by creating regional sub-committees for up to five regions in the United States. Additionally, a special committee of corporate general counsels will be created to provide feedback and insights to the AdLaw Section Council on the continuing growth of the regulatory state.
The AdLaw Section is made up of lawyers, judges and others involved in all aspects of administrative law and regulatory issues. As the home to lawyers who work for, interact with, or study governmental entities, the section seeks to enhance their professional development, and further the vital public interest in effective, efficient, and fair administration of laws and regulations at all levels of government. It serves these goals through education, dialogue, publications, and proposals for reform.
The mission of the AdLaw Section is to provide professional development opportunities for current and future administrative law practitioners; lend its legal expertise to the resolution of important administrative law issues at the state, national and international levels; provide authoritative and practical analyses and products for the improvement of administrative law and practice; and to provide settings in which government, private, and academic lawyers, and the judiciary can exchange insights and information.
The AdLaw Section has more than 40 committees that monitor and review agency actions, new legislation and case law in areas such as rulemaking, adjudication and judicial review, as well as on more specific subjects such as homeland security, transportation, immigration, energy and environment, and freedom of information
Joe Whitley has had a wide-ranging career in the Department of Justice. In the George H.W. Bush administration, Whitley served as the Acting Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position at Main Justice in the Department of Justice. He was appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush, respectively, to serve as the United States Attorney in the Middle (Macon) and Northern (Atlanta) Federal Districts of Georgia. Throughout his career, Whitley served under five Attorneys General in a number of key operational and policy positions. Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in Columbus, Georgia.
In 2003, Whitley was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the first General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the highest ranking legal official at DHS. He held that position for two years working for SecretaryTom Ridge and Secretary Michael Chertoff, before his departure and return to private practice.
Corporate defense and representation of clients in complex civil and criminal enforcement matters brought by the Department of Justice, other federal agencies, State Attorneys General and local prosecutors is the focus of Whitley’s practice at Greenberg Traurig, where he is Chair of the White Collar Practice in Atlanta. He has represented numerous individuals and corporations in major government investigations throughout the United States and internationally on a range of matters that include white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement, corporate internal investigations, U.S. export controls and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance, as well as general corporate compliance, health care fraud and FDA related enforcement matters.
Whitley has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 2001-2013. He was selected by Super Lawyers magazine, andGeorgia Super Lawyers from 2010-2013 and listed as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in Georgia” from 2011-2013. Whitley is also listed as one of “Georgia’s Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend magazine, 2008-2012. He was also selected by Super Lawyersmagazine for Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers in 2012.
NAFUSA member and New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division Justice Salvatore R. Martoche is joining the Buffalo office of Hodgson Russ effective September 3. With the addition of Judge Martoche, the firm will formally launch its national Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Judge Martoche, who has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution at the federal, state, and local levels in addition to his 13 years on the Supreme Court bench, will lead the group. In addition, he will be a member of the Business Litigation Practice Group, the Business Crimes, Regulatory Offenses & Corporate Investigations Practice Group, and the Banking Practice Group.
As an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury under Presidents Reagan and Bush from 1988 to 1990, Martoche oversaw all law enforcement operations in the Treasury Department. Prior to that, he served as an assistant secretary of the U.S. Labor Department under President Reagan. While in federal service, Judge Martoche was a key official involved in correcting the country’s savings and loan scandals of the 1980s.
Earlier in his career, Judge Martoche was U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York, and he served as one of the six commissioners of the New York State Commission of Investigation, which investigated allegations of organized crime and public corruption statewide. Judge Martoche also served as a Buffalo public defender and was in private practice for more than 20 years.
Judge Martoche is widely credited with significant reforms in the Federal Witness Protection Program, and one of his many high-profile cases served as the basis for the James Caan movie “Hide in Plain Sight.”
Judge Martoche is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest distinction given by the secretary of Treasury; Buffalo News, Citizen of the Year; and Canisius College, LaSalle Medal and Distinguished Alumni Award.
Hodgson Russ attorneys facilitate the U.S. legal aspects of transactions around the world. They practice in every major area of law and generally use multidisciplinary work teams to serve the specific, often complex, needs of our clients, which include public and privately held businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Hodgson Russ has offices in Albany, Buffalo, New York City, and Saratoga Springs, New York; Toronto, Ontario; and Palm Beach, Florida.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has appointed NAFUSA member Robert “Bob” Q. Whitwell Sr., shown left, as a chancery court judge. Whitwell served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi 1985-1993. He also served as the principal associate deputy attorney general at Main Justice and as a municipal court judge in Mississippi from 1975-1985. Chancery Court District 18, Place 2 includes Benton, Calhoun, Lafayette, Marshall and Tippah counties in Mississippi.
Whitwell has been a partner in the law firm of Farese, Farese & Farese in Ashland. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi.
NAFUSA President-Elect Don Stern published an OpEd piece in today’s Boston Globe, wherein he discusses the recent conviction of James “Whitey” Bulger, the infamous Boston mobster whose violent crimes were committed during a 25-year reign of terror. Stern was the US Attorney at the time of Bulger’s indictment and the US Attorney who approved the Martorano plea agreement in 1999 which led to the prosecution of Bulger and Stephen Flemmi. Underlying the Bulger trial was the corrupt relationship Bulger had with law enforcement.
Stern is a managing director, corporate monitoring at Affiliated Monitors, one of NAFUSA’s 2013 sponsors, and an attorney with Yurko, Salvesen & Remzstern. He was the United States Attorney in Massachusetts, 1992-2001.
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