NAFUSA Update
June 2014


NAFUSA Update is published monthly. NAFUSA's website can be accessed directly from this newsletter. New articles are posted to the website during the month.  You may also subscribe to NAFUSA email updates, delivered to your inbox overnight, the day after any new items are posted. (Be sure to complete the two step process.) You can also follow NAFUSA on Twitter (@NAFUSAorg).
  
Focus on MacBride in Credit Suisse Case

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.
Neil MacBride
Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times

 

Charlton Cited in Justice Dept. Change of Policy on Recording Interrogations

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.
 

Paul Chalton NAFUSA member Paul Charlton, shown right, former U.S. Attorney in Arizona, and currently a partner at Steptoe & Johnson in its Phoenix office, 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. 
Ratcliffe Wins TX GOP Primary Runoff
 

John Ratcliffe NAFUSA lifetime member John Ratcliffe defeated Rep. Ralph Hall on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, 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.

 

 

NAFUSA Editor Takes Break

Rich Rossman & Ron WoodsIn case you noticed there have been fewer posts in May, the reason was 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, and hopes he hasn't missed any important news. Please feel free to email any member news that should be shared.

 

Rich & Patty Rossman, Ron & Patty Woods
Rich & Patty Rossman, Ron & Patty Woods
on the Moscow River, May 19, 2004


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In This Issue
Focus on MacBride in Credit Suisse
Charlton Cited in DOJ Change in Policy
Ratcliff Wins in TX Primary
NAFUSA Editor Takes Break
New Sponsors

returns with a $10,000 contribution towards the success of the Boston conference. NAFUSA Immediate Past President Jay Stephens serves as the senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Raytheon and Jeff Taylor is the vice president and general counsel of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Both Jay and Jeff are life members of NAFUSA. 
 

Jones Day logo
 
also returns with a $10,000 contribution, which includes among its partners NAFUSA President- Elect Matt Orwig, board member Karen Hewitt and Past President Rick Deane. All three are life members of NAFUSA. 
 


Goodwin Procter is a national law firm with corporate headquarters in Boston where the firm was founded in 1912. It joins NAFUSA's list of 2014 sponsors for the Boston conference with a $5,000 contribution. NAFUSA life member Wayne Budd is a partner in the Boston office and is serving on the Boston Host Committee. 

Gibson Dunn logo
is a global law firm, founded in Los Angeles in 1890, and includes among its partners, NAFUSA members Ted Olson, Chuck Stevens and Debra Yang. The firm joins the 2014 list with a $5,000 contribution.


With these four new 2014 sponsors, NAFUSA has $85,000 contributed towards the success of the Boston conference. 



2014 Membership Dues deadline Passes
For NAFUSA members who missed the February 28 deadline for payment of dues, click on the red link below.


2014 Sponsors

GreenbergTraurig logo


Affiliated Monitors logo
Perkins Coie logo
Bradley Arant Sponsor Logo
Norton Rose Fulbright logo
Forensic Strategic Solutions logo

Goodwin-Procter
Gibson Dunn logo

National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA).
  
Richard A. Rossman
Executive Director
27 Oakland Park
Pleasant Ridge, Michigan 48069
Phone: 248-548-8289