NAFUSA's annual conference will open in Santa Fe on Thursday, September 29, 2011. Janet Napolitano, the third Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will be the keynote speaker at the closing banquet on Saturday evening, October 1.

Prior to becoming Secretary, Napolitano was in her second term as Governor of Arizona. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association. She also served as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

The conference will be held at La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa. If you haven't yet registered for the NAFUSA conference, click here for the registration form. The program for this year's conference is almost complete. Click here for the most recent draft program.

The reservation deadline for the hotel was August 30, 2011, but there may be a few rooms available due to cancellations. Call La Posada at 505.954.9686 or the overflow hotel a few blocks away, the Inn and Spa at Loretto at 866-582-1646. Mention NAFUSA and ask for the conference rate of $249 per night plus $12 resort fee.

Santa Fe advertises itself as "The City Different" and in many ways lives up to the claim. There is much to savor in its plaza, churches, museums, galleries and shops. But, if time permits, even more "difference" can be found nearby. There's Taos and the World Heritage Site at Taos Pueblo 75 miles away (take the High Road to Taos through Truchas and return down the Rio Grande Gorge on The Low Road).

El Santuario de Chimayo (30 miles each way) will awaken even the most dormant sense of spiritual wonder. Restaurante Rancho de Chimayo is a Northern New Mexico favorite. 

For even greater variety, consider a trip to Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument and the drive into the Jemez (pronounced hay-mis) Mountains past the magnificent Valles Caldera National Preserve. The late-June, early-July Las Conchas Wildfire, largest in New Mexico history, will be very much in evidence in the mountains above Los Alamos. 

Los Alamos is home to Los Alamos National Laboratory, established in 1943 to develop the atomic bomb. The Bradbury Science Museum (free admission) displays exhibits about the history of the lab and its research. Los Alamos, the community - the U.S. county with the highest per capita income - is dominated by the lab and seems to retain much of its secretive origins.

Bandelier National Monument, outside Los Alamos, features dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people from circa 1150 CE. There are several archeological sites along the Main Loop Trail (1.2 miles round trip) and on an additional mile round-trip trail to Alcove House. Much of the monument was damaged by the wildfire and some has been damaged even more by the floods since, during summer rains. Check ahead to see if closings remain in effect.

Valles Caldera National Preserve in the volcanic Jemez Mountains was a private ranch until 2000, when Congress created the preserve. "This 89,000 acre property is situated inside a collapsed crater. Studded with eruptive domes and featuring Redondo Peak (11,254 feet), this old ranch property is now being developed to explore a new way of managing public lands." The view of Valles Grande from Highway 4 over the mountain pass west of Los Alamos is among the most beautiful anywhere.

The round-trip from Santa Fe to Los Alamos and Bandelier is 95 miles, with some curves and grades. The round-trip to Valles Grande adds 37 miles in the mountains. There are no facilities at Valles Caldera, and access is by reservation and strictly limited 

President Barack Obama nominated Jones for the position of United States Attorney in 2009. He was also appointed by Attorney General Holder to chair the Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC) in 2009, a position he held until his appointment to head ATF. President Bill Clinton had appointed him to the same position in 1998, and he served until 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Jones has also served in the United States Marine Corps.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. named Paul J. Fishman, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, as chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC), effective September 7, 2011. Fishman succeeds B. Todd Jones, who has become the Acting Director of ATF.

Fishman has served as U.S. Attorney since his 2009 appointment by President Barack Obama. He has also served as the vice chair of the AGAC. From 1994-1997, Fishman served as a senior adviser to the Attorney General and to the Deputy Attorney General.

Fishman is a graduate of Harvard Law School where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. He clerked for the Hon. Edward R. Becker of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Main Justice, which covers insider news about the U.S. Department of Justice, including the 94 U.S. Attorney offices around the country, will join us at our Santa Fe conference this month. Two law firms closely associated with NAFUSA have made this possible by offering to sponsor this coverage. As Main Justice did last year with their coverage of the conference in New York, we can expect extensive coverage of the Santa Fe conference, including articles and videos on this widely visited site.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is one of the sponsoring law firms. NAFUSA Past President and current Membership Chair, Jack W. Selden, photo left, is a partner in the Birmingham office of the firm. Bradley Arant Boult Cummings is a regional firm with a global perspective. With more than 370 attorneys, it is one of the largest firms in the Southeast, with offices in Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.

Selden is a partner in the White Collar Criminal Defense, Litigation and Health Care Groups. He served as United States Attorney, Northern District of Alabama, 1992-1993, and as president of NAFUSA, 2004-2005. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law.

The other sponsoring law firm is Jones Day. With more than 2,500 lawyers, including more than 400 lawyers in Europe and 200 lawyers in Asia, Jones Day ranks among the world's largest law firms.

Richard ("Rick") H. Deane Jr., President-Elect of NAFUSA, is a partner in the Atlanta office of Jones Day. Deane, shown right, is co-chair of the Firm's Corporate Criminal Investigations Practice and is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He served as United States Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, 1998-2001. Deane also served as Magistrate Judge, Northern District of Georgia, 1994-1998. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law.

NAFUSA member Karen P. Hewitt, shown left, is a partner in the San Diego office of Jones Day. Hewitt served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, 2007-2010. She was a Trial Attorney with the Civil Division in Washington and an Assistant U.S. Attorney prior to her appointment as U.S. Attorney. Hewitt is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law.

Long time NAFUSA member Johnnie Mac Walters has authored a book, Our Journey, describing his career during the Nixon Administration. He served as Assistant Attorney General (1969-1971) and as Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1971-1973).

As the book jacket describes,

In 1971 embattled President Richard M. Nixon sought to use the Internal Revenue Service as a weapon to investigate and punish his "enemies." Tapes of White House conversations reveal that Nixon wanted as Commissioner "a ruthless son-of-a-bitch that he will do what he is told; that every income tax return I want to see I see; that he will go after our enemies and not go after our friends."

Attorney General John Mitchell recommended Assistant AG Johnnie Mac Walters. Apparently no one checked with Walters who was "shocked" when White House Counsel John Dean presented him with an "enemies list." Walters resisted pressure from the White House and told Secretary of the Treasury George Schultz that he could "have my job anytime he wanted it."

Walters earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He served in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Force as a navigator, flying fifty bombing missions. Walters is retired and lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

The book is available from the publisher, Stroud & Hall Publishers, P.O. Box 27210, Macon, GA 31221, 800-331-9133. The price is $20 plus mailing.  

Dunn Lampton, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, died on August 17, 2011, in Jackson, Mississippi. Lampton had suffered poor health since a 2007 Jeep accident on his farm in which he suffered a severe spinal cord injury.

Known for his efforts to convict reputed Klansmen, he reopened the investigation of the Klan's 1964 killings of two black teenagers, leading to the 2007 conviction of James Ford Seale. He also oversaw the conviction of reputed Klansman Ernest Avants in a 1968 murder.   

Lampton was appointed United States Attorney in 2001 by President George W. Bush. He retired in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne and two children, Sydney and Will.

National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA)

Ronald G. Woods

Executive Director

5300 Memorial- Suite 1000

Houston, TX 77007

Phone: 713-862-9600

Ron@ronwoodslaw.com

2011 CONERENCE SPONSORS