The article in the May newsletter about Hal Hardin’s role in the Tennessee Governor Blanton matter brought back many memories for NAFUSA member W. Hickman Ewing, who writes:

In August 1977 Mike Cody was the U.S. Attorney in Memphis. As an AUSA I successfully tried a topless nightclub operator (the week Elvis died). He turned, and began giving us information about lots of official corruption. We wired him in Memphis, and he ultimately had conversations with officials, including Gov. Blanton’s chief of security. This led to paying money to have the Gov. issue executive clemencies and pardons.  The chief culprits were the Gov.’s Legal Counsel and Extradition officer. The investigation heated up in 1978, and at some point Mike and Hal Hardin, his MD TN counterpart recused themselves from the investigation. By that time Joe Brown was the First Asst. in Nashville, and I was 1st Asst. in Memphis.

Lamar Alexander (my fraternity brother at Vanderbilt) won the governor’s election in Nov. 1978. The investigation went overt in mid – December 1978, with search warrants being executed at various offices at the State Capital. Joe and I questioned Gov. Blanton in the grand jury in December (he was represented by former U.S. Atty/Watergate prosecutor Jim Neal). We had witnesses/sources inside the Blanton administration, and got word that the lameduck Gov. was going to pardon/give clemency to a number of people, some of whom had paid money.  We advised Hal, who was then the key man in getting the wheels moving so that Lamar could be sworn in early.

Joe and I went to the State Capitol building that night –it was like a banana republic rebellion. Loyal TN Highway Patrol (THP) forces were providing security for the capital. We had an outstanding subpoena out for more prisoner files, andthe THP wouldn’t let anyone leave with files. Joe and I went to various offices giving advice about what could and could not be removed. We met that night in the capital with a member of new Gov.Alexander’s staff, along with a Republican lawyer he had brought along to give advice –one Fred Thompson (former AUSA for the MD TN).

Joe and I went on to handle the indictments, trials and some guilty pleas. When Pres. Reagan was elected both Joe and I were named U.S.Attorneys for our districts, having come up through the ranks, and having both served as First Asst. AUSA’s the 4 year’s previous.

Ewing, shown above, served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee from 1981-1991. He also served as Deputy Independent Counsel, 1994-2001. A Navy veteran, Ewing was a swift boat captain in Vietnam. He practices law in Germantown, Tennessee. Brown, shown below, served as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, 1981-1991. He is currently a United States Magistrate Judge in Nashville.

NAFUSA board member Joe Whitley, left, as Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Adminstrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, has put together the 8th Annual Administrative Law Institute. The program will be held on May 9 & 10, 2012 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. NAFUSA members in corporate and business practices may enjoy attending.Click here to review the Final 8th Annual Administrative Law Institute Brochure.

NAFUSA member Fred Foreman has been named the Chief Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Lake County, Illinois, effective May 1, 2012.  He will serve as the chief judge for a term of one year. He has been the Acting Chief Judge and former Presiding Judge of the Felony Division. Judge Foreman was elected unanimously by the other twelve circuit judges of Lake County.

Judge Foreman was elected as Circuit Judge in the 2004 general election. Prior to his election, he had 30 years experience in civil and criminal litigation and had tried more than 200 cases in federal and state courts.  As a member of the law firm of Freeborn and Peters for over ten years, his practice included representation of clients in environmental, gaming and crisis management matters.  He has also been involved in numerous corporate internal investigations and represented clients throughout the world on matters of espionage and electronic intrusions and theft of intellectual property.

Judge Foreman was appointed by President George H.W. Bush as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for a term from 1990-1993. He also served as a three-term State’s Attorney for Lake County from 1980-1990.   He served as outside counsel on behalf of the State of Illinois v. Philip Morris, et al and has acted as special counsel in representing the Governor and state officials and agencies.

Judge Foreman earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1974 from John Marshall Law School.

The recent report in The New York Times of allegations that Wal-Mart suppressed an intenal inquiry into bribery in Mexico (see, for instance, Charlie Savage’s April 26, 2012 article, With Wal-Mart Claims, Greater Attention on a Law), has led to an increased national focus on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A large group of former U.S. Attorneys are likely to be kept quite busy with FCPA issues. Wal-Mart named Tom Gean, shown above left, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, Global Compliance Officer. Gaen has been with Wal-Mart’s legal department since 2004.

Greenberg Traurig is conducting a worldwide review of Wal-Mart’s compliance programs, reporting to Gean. The Greenberg effort is led by former U.S. Attorneys John A. Pappalardo, shown above right, and NAFUSA board member Joe D. Whitley, shown above left.

Wal-Mart has retained Jones Day to conduct its internal investigation and it is led by NAFUSA board member Karen P. Hewitt, shown right.

Yet another NAFUSA member, David N. Kelley, shown left, is one of the partners at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, serving as legal counsel for the Wal-Mart Audit Committee.

NAFUSA member Anton R. “Tony” Valukas, Chairman of Jenner & Block, was appointed examiner by the bankruptcy court in 2009 to investigate Lehman Brothers’ collapse. On April 22, 2012, Valukas was interviewed by 60 Minutes. “They’d fudged the numbers,” Valukas told 60 MInutes. “They would move what turned out to be aproximately $50 billion of assets from the United States to the United Kingdom just before they printed their financial statements.” Click here to watch the 60 Minute segment “The Case Against Lehman”. Valukas filed a nine-volume, 2,200 page report with the bankruptcy court.

Valukas served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, 1985-1989. 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 the Northwestern School of Law.

As reported in The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, NAFUSA member Kenneth Wainstein, testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on April 19, 2012. Wainstein represents Assistant United States Attorney Joseph Bottini, who was criticized by the report of court appointed independent investigator Henry Schuelke regarding alleged prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case.

The BLT post, written by Mike Scarcella quotes from Wainstein’s prepared statement to the Committee:

“Considering the length of the report–all 500-plus pages of it–one would assume that that conclusion must be well-founded,”Wainstein, a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, said in a prepared statement. “That assumption would be wrong.”

Wainstein said “this is a case that proves up the old adage that quantity does not lead to quality.” Prosecutors, Wainstein said, are human and make mistakes.

“Like every prosecutor–myself included–he has made his share of mistakes, especially in the hectic and unpredictable environment of criminal trials,” Wainstein said. “He acknowledges that he made mistakes–serious mistakes–in the Senator Stevens case, and he will always regret the effect they had on the integrity of that prosecution and on the public perception of the Justice Department.”

One of Wainstein’s chief criticisms of the report is its lack of analysis of prosecutorial intent. He said there is a single paragraph about the alleged intent behind Bottini¹s conduct. Wainstein called reading the Schuelke report “a little disconcerting.”

“It’s like reading a novel that goes straight from the introduction to the happy ending or a judicial opinion that states the issue and the court’s ruling but omits the analysis that leads to the ruling,” he said.

United Technologies Corporation announced the appointment of NAFUSA member Kevin O’Connor to the new role role of Vice President, Global Compliance, effective March 19, 2012. He will lead the global business practices function for UTC, charged with ensuring full implementation and compliance with the company’s code of ethics throughout the many countries in which UTC operates.

O’Connor served as the Associate Attorney General of the United States, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Chair of DOJ’s Intellectual Property Task Force. He also served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut and Senior Counsel with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. O’Connor is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He joins UTC from the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, where he was a partner and chair of the white collar practice group.