You may have heard the question, “Why hold the 2024 annual conference in
Oklahoma City?” You may have even asked the question yourself. The 195
NAFUSA members and guests who signed up for this year’s conference now
know the answer – OKC is fabulous with a modern upbeat welcoming vibe and
a walkable downtown and beautiful green spaces. The conference venue -the
National Hotel – wowed even the most experienced travelers with its stunning
art deco décor, amazing bars and restaurants, helpful staff and large
comfortable rooms. It was a great conference experience. Thanks, John
Richter, for bringing the conference to OKC!

The Wednesday night Opening Reception, sponsored again this year in fine
style by long-time NAFUSA supporter Guidepost Solutions, was held in the
National Hotel’s Library of Distilled Spirits. The “Library” was built into the
space which formerly housed the massive vault of the building’s original
tenant, the First National Bank. The imaginative and brilliantly lit space was
the perfect backdrop for reuniting with DOJ colleagues and old friends.

After opening remarks by NAFUSA president John Richter and Executive
Director Wendy Goggin, the CLE programming began on Thursday morning
with a presentation on the Intersection of Law, Ethics, and Public Relations in
High Profile Litigation and Investigations. The panel, moderated by Robert
Conrad, former U.S. Attorney WDNC and now Director of the Administrative
Office of the U.S. Courts, was a timely discussion of handling press/public
disclosures from the perspective of public relations experts and lawyers and
the benefits of working together on high profile matters.

The second panel of the day featured current and former DOJ officials
discussing emerging issues in cross-border enforcement and the challenges
facing DOJ, corporations and defense counsel. DOJ’s Director of the Office of
International Affairs and the Chief of the Criminal Division’s Money
Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Recovery Section joined Mark Mendelsohn,
former Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section for this presentation.

Conference attendees enthusiastically responded to the Conversation with
Former Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan. His remarks were timely, candid
and displayed a wealth of understanding of historical events and how those
events shape the current landscape in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East
and impact Americans. As one NAFUSA member opined, we learned so much
from him and could have happily listened to him speak all afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon, conference attendees were treated to tours of the
Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum which was a short walk from
the conference hotel. The Museum is a powerful reminder of the tragedy of the
bombing of the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in which 168 people
were killed. The tour featured the Survivor’s Wall, a tribute to the more than
600 people who survived the blast. Many NAFUSA members have personal
recollections of the horrors of that day or were involved with the investigations
and trials which followed. For those, and all the attendees who visited the
Museum, it was a sobering experience.

The program continued Friday morning after Thursday evening’s class dinners
at various OKC restaurants and night spots. Gary Restaino, USA Arizona and
vice-chair of the AGAC joined then Acting EOUSA Director Norm Wong for an
update on DOJ issues along with insight on USA staffing challenges. This was
followed by the annual Supreme Court Review, presented by Ethan Davis of
King & Spalding.

The last panel presentation was moderated by NAFUSA vice president
Catherine Hanaway and featured speakers with impressive backgrounds and
extraordinary breadth of knowledge on the topic of generative AI and its
ethical and practical uses in legal practice. After the presentation, the panel
fielded questions which demonstrated the importance of these issues to our
membership.

The final presentation of the morning before the general meeting and election
of officers and new board members, was the presentation of the J. Michael
Bradford Award. The remarks given by award members in the past have been
conference highlights and this year was no different. John Romano, AUSA DNJ
received the award from NAFUSA Secretary Tim Purdon, and then captured
the respect and admiration of conference attendees with his extraordinary case review of United States v Jackson, “Finding Justice After a Decade of
Prosecutions…”

The conference ended Friday night with a delicious dinner at Vast Restaurant,
the best view in Oklahoma and entertaining remarks by new board member
Scott Schools.

NAFUSA is pleased to announce the 2024 winner of the J. Michael Bradford
Memorial Award – Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) John F. Romano
from the District of New Jersey. John was selected from an outstanding group of nominees from U.S. Attorney offices across the country because of his outstanding advocacy in United States v. Jackson, a case involving two
defendants’ horrifying treatment of three foster children between the ages of
2-months and 4-years old while living at the Picatinny Arsenal and elsewhere.
The jury heard overwhelming evidence of gut-wrenching abuse and neglect
against the three children, causing them life threatening injuries. Despite the
defendants’ grievous conduct, the originally assigned district judge imposed
sentences so lenient that the Solicitor General authorized three affirmative
appeals and two requests for reassignment. AUSA Romano prevailed in all
three appeals, which included two oral arguments, while securing
reassignment to another district judge in the third appeal. He handled three
resentencing hearings before the District Court, two before the originally
assigned district judge and then before the reassigned district judge. Finally,
he successfully moved for summary action to foreclose the defendants from
challenging their convictions on appeal. That motion was granted in January
2024.

After reviewing the nomination submitted by U.S. Attorney Phillip Sellinger, the NAFUSA Board of Directors found that AUSA Romano’s continuous and
dogged efforts to seek justice for these vulnerable victims exemplifies his
devotion to the mission of the Department of Justice and has voted to award
him the Bradford Award for 2024. The Award will be presented by NAFUSA
Secretary Tim Purdon at the NAFUSA Conference in Oklahoma City on
September 27, 2024, and AUSA Romano will deliver remarks about the
Jackson prosecution which included two long trials, as well as exhausting
pretrial and post-trial proceedings. According to USA Sellinger, for more than
nine years John Romano played a pivotal role in the effort to secure justice for
the victims in this case.

Each of this year’s candidates for the Bradford Award exemplified the high
standards and commitment to justice that the Bradford Award honors. The
decision wasn’t easy. The following AUSAs were nominated by their offices for the award based on their outstanding service to the Department of Justice
and each has received an award from NAFUSA, thanks to the generosity of
former NAFUSA president Ed Dowd:

Audrey B. Hemesath
Eastern District of California

Melanie K. Pierson
Southern District of California

Brian Dunn
District of Colorado

Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis
District of Connecticut

Gregory Rosen
District of Columbia

Rachelle DesVaux Bedke
Middle District of Florida

Ron Timmons
Northern District of Iowa

Christopher M. O’Connor
Western District of Michigan

Michael J. Goldberger
Eastern District of New York

Catherine Mirabile
Eastern District of New York

Lara Pomerantz
Southern District of New York

Robert Yalen
Southern District of New York

Kathryn Risinger
Middle District of Tennessee

Ahmed Safeeullah
Middle District of Tennessee

Ben Schrader
Middle District of Tennessee

Adrian Garcia
Eastern District of Texas

Carmen Castillo Mitchell
Southern District of Texas

Timothy J. Ohms
Eastern District of Washington

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, whether we like it or not, and apparently
it’s here to stay. NAFUSA is very excited to host a panel of experts at our
annual conference in Oklahoma City on how AI impacts legal practice. They
will delve into the ethical and practical uses of generative AI in legal practice
beginning with the question “How are Lawyers using AI today and what will the
near future bring?” Catherine Hanaway, Partner and former Chair of Husch
Blackwell and NAFUSA Vice President, will moderate the panel discussion
which includes the question of whether lawyers actually have an ethical
obligation to use AI and what that obligation looks like.

Panel members include Julie Myers Wood, CEO of Guidepost Solutions
International, a leading investigations, compliance, monitoring and security
firm, and long-time NAFUSA friend and sponsor. She has a particular interest
and expertise in how technology and artificial intelligence is transforming
compliance.

Also on the panel is NAFUSA Board member Jay Town, Vice President and
General Counsel of Gray Analytics, a cybersecurity risk management firm
focusing on challenging technical problems with offices in Huntsville,
Alabama and Los Angeles. Joining them is Justin Helms, the Artificial
Intelligence Solutions Strategist at Husch Blackwell. A licensed attorney, he
helps drive AI technology development and application to transform legal
practice and business operations.

The last panel member is Valerie McConnell, the Senior Director of
CoCounsel Customer Success at Thompson Reuters where she uses her
litigation and computer science background to advise lawyers on how to
leverage artificial intelligence in their practices. She is a frequent speaker on
the application of generative AI to solve problems in legal workflow and we are
thrilled to welcome her and the other panel members.

In addition to the discussion of ethical issues surrounding the use of – or
failure to use – AI, this highly experienced and talented panel will suggest
specific practical uses of AI in legal practice from conducting legal research to responding to discovery requests. We look forward to their presentation on
Friday morning, September 27 in OKC!

The 2024 NAFUSA Conference’s CLE program will open on Thursday morning,
September 26, with a panel of outstanding speakers delving into the high
stakes issues that lawyers and public relations professionals should consider
in high profile litigation and investigations. The topic could not be timelier.
News outlets and social media for the past year – and more – have inundated
the public with accounts of legal entanglements involving public officials,
movie and reality TV stars, and events, often tragic, of wide public interest.
The panel, composed of experienced legal and public relations professionals
highly skilled in dealing with the legal and ethical issues that arise in these
types of cases, will provide a detailed look at these issues and discuss
practical considerations and solutions.

The panel discussion is entitled The Intersection of Law, Ethics, and Public
Relations in High Profile Litigation and Investigations. The speakers are truly
outstanding practitioners in law and public relations fields who have dealt
with the complex legal and ethical issues that arise when public scrutiny is
focused on investigations and litigation. NAFUSA is pleased to have on this
panel two highly regarded public relations experts: Mark Corallo, a political
communications and public relations professional who is the co-founder,
along with Barbara Comstock, of Corallo Comstock, a public relations firm;
and Ellen Moskowitz, senior partner of the Brunswick Group and co-leader of
Brunswick’s global litigation communications and crisis practice.

Additionally, we are honored to have two highly skilled and experienced
attorneys on the panel, both of whom are NAFUSA members: Debra Wong
Yang, a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Los Angeles office and chair of
their Crisis Management Practice Group; and Ronald Machan, partner in
WilmerHale, a member of the firm’s Global Management Committee and
Chair of the firm’s Litigation and Controversy Department. Moderating this
panel of experts is Robert Conrad, former United States Attorney for the
Western District of North Carolina, former District and Senior Judge for the
Western District of North Carolina, and most recently appointed the Director
of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

We are pleased and excited to have this august group lead off the program in
Oklahoma City.

Registration for the 2024 NAFUSA annual conference is now open. The
Conference will be held in the award winning National Hotel in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma, from September 25 through September 28.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR 2024 CONFERENCE

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE A HOTEL ROOM

If you have any issues reserving a hotel room please contact Lisa Rafferty at lisarafferty27@gmail.com.

The conference begins early for NAFUSA golfers who sign up to play golf and
for transportation to the Jimmie Austin Golf Course at the University of
Oklahoma Wednesday morning, September 25. The full
conference begins that evening at 6:00 with the opening cocktail/dinner
reception hosted by Guidepost Solutions in the Library of Distilled Spirits at the hotel.

The conference CLE program begins Thursday morning, September 26 after
opening remarks by this year’s president, John Richter and Executive Director,
Wendy Goggin. Following the morning’s programs, there will be a lunch
in the hotel with introductory remarks by former OK Governor and U.S.
Attorney Frank Keating. Conference attendees will be given guided tours of the
OKC National Memorial Museum, the site of the bombing of the Murrah
Federal Building immediately after lunch. On Thursday night, former U.S.
Attorneys and guests from the various presidential administrations will gather
for reunion dinners organized by their class representatives.

After breakfast on Friday, CLE programing continues with outstanding
presentations including representatives from the DOJ, a Supreme Court
review, and a panel on Ethical and Practical Uses of Generative AI in Legal
Practice. The 2024 Bradford Award winner will be introduced and will give a
presentation of his successful – and award winning – prosecutions.

New Directors and Officers nominations will be presented for vote before the
general membership following the morning programs.

The Friday night cocktail reception and dinner will be held in the Vast
restaurant which is at the top of the 50 story Devon Tower in the heart of
downtown OKC. It has been named one of Open Table’s 100 Most Scenic
Restaurants in America. The fabulous view, the outstanding menu and the planned dinner speaker will be a wonderful way to conclude and celebrate this year’s conference.

See you in Oklahoma City!

Massachusetts native John Joseph Sullivan has had a long career in
government service. In 1991 he served as Counselor to Assistant Attorney
General J. Michael Luttig in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal
Counsel. The next year he served as Deputy General Counsel of President
George H.W. Bush’s 1992 re-election campaign. Following several years in
private practice with the Washington D.C. firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw,
where he practiced Supreme Court law and co-chaired the firm’s national
security practice, in 2004 he was appointed Deputy General Counsel of the
U.S. Department of Defense. He later moved to the U.S. Commerce
Department where he served as General Counsel and soon after was
nominated by President Bush to serve as Deputy Secretary of Commerce and
sworn in on March 14, 2008, after senate confirmation.

In 2017 he was confirmed as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State after nomination
by Donald Trump and overwhelming senate support for his confirmation. In
October 2019, Sullivan was nominated and confirmed to be the United States
Ambassador to Russia. Following Trump’s departure, incoming President Joe
Biden asked Sullivan to stay on during his term as president, which he did
until family health issues required his return to the U.S in September 2022.

Ambassador Sullivan was on the diplomatic front lines when Russia invaded
Ukraine. He had been warning it would happen for weeks. When troops
crossed the border, he was awakened in the middle of the night with a
prearranged code that meant he needed to collect his bodyguards and get to
the embassy as soon as possible. It meant that the war had begun.

He has written a memoir about his service titled Midnight in Moscow. In it,
Ambassador Sullivan leads readers into the office of the U.S, Embassy in
Moscow and the halls of the Kremlin during possibly the most dangerous
period since World War II. He describes how the Putin regime repeatedly lied
about its intentions regarding Ukraine while devoting huge numbers of
personnel and vast resources to undermine the U.S. diplomatic mission. He
explains his belief that when Putin gave his order on February 24, 2022, Russia
went not just to war with its neighbor but with the United States and everything it represents. His memoir details how the U.S. relationship with Russia deteriorated, and where it is headed.

During the 2024 NAFUSA annual conference in Oklahoma City, John C.
Richter, NAFUSA’s president, will interview Ambassador Sulivan about his
experience and what the future portends vis-à-vis Russia and Putin.

Attendees at the 2024 NAFUSA annual conference in Oklahoma City will have
the opportunity to play golf with other NAFUSA members and guests at the
historic Jimmie Austin Golf Club on Wednesday morning, September 25.
Registration for one of the available foursome, including roundtrip transportation from the conference hotel, will open along with registration for the conference itself in mid-July.

The Jimmie Austin Golf at the University of Oklahoma has a rich heritage
dating back to the 1940s when the land on which it is situated was a U.S. Navy
recreational center serving as an annex to the Norman Naval Air Station.
Construction began in 1949 on what was to become the University of
Oklahoma golf course, and the course opened for play in 1951. Famous
Oklahoman golf course architect Perry Maxwell was commissioned to build
the project. In 1996 an extensive renovation was completed, led by world –
renowned course architect Robert Cupp.

The Jimmie Austin course hosted the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public
Links Championship and NCAA Regional Championships in 2012, 2018, and
2022 (men’s) and 2013 and 2019 (women’s) and is scheduled to host more
MCAA Regional Championships in 2025.

The beautiful course, with major artery Bishop Creek running through it, has a
terrain of rolling hills, native grasses and trees. For the golfers among the
attendees, it promises to be a great way to start the 2024 Annual NAFUSA
Conference in OKC!

The 2024 NAFUSA annual conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC)
begins September 25 with an opening reception in The National Hotel, the
amazing venue for this year’s conference program. Registration for the
conference will begin in early summer and planning is well underway for
another great conference.

One of the many highlights of OKC is the Oklahoma City National Memorial
and Museum, the site of the former Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which
was destroyed in the bombing on April 19, 1995. The brutal act of violence
killed 168 people, seriously injured hundreds more, and changed the lives of
many more forever. The Outdoor Symbolic Memorial was dedicated on April
19, 2000, and the Memorial Museum was dedicated on Presidents’Day
February 19, 2001. The Museum is an interactive learning experience that
takes visitors on self-guided tours through the story of the events of April 19,
1995, and the years that followed. Since its opening, more than 4.4 million
visitors have come to the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial and over 1.6 million to
the Memorial Museum.

The impact of the bombing and mass murder at the Murrah Federal Building
and the investigations and prosecutions that followed are especially felt by
members of the law enforcement community in Oklahoma and across the
country. An estimated 646 people were inside the building when the bomb
exploded, including children at a daycare center. During the course of the
investigation, over 28,000 interviews were conducted, and 3200 kg of
evidence collected. The prosecutions, federal and state, took years. Many
NAFUSA members were involved in the investigation and subsequent trials
and their names memorialized in the museum.

Because of the significance of the events of April 19, 1995, to NAFUSA
members, VIP tours are being arranged with the museum for Thursday
afternoon, September 26, as a part of the OKC conference. The tours will be
guided by museum staff in staggered small groups for all those who wish to
take advantage of the opportunity. More details on this and other program
highlights to come!

Although it’s been barely two months since NAFUSA members enjoyed a successful conference in beautiful Half Moon Bay, California, we are already looking forward to Conference 2024. As previously announced, the Board of Directors voted to return the annual conferences to the fall of the year as was traditional prior to the pandemic. Consequently, the next conference will be held in the fall of 2024. Please mark your calendars for September 25 -27, 2024!

Those who were unable to join us in Half Moon Bay missed the announcement by newly elected president John Richter about the location of NAFUSA’s 2024 annual conference. The next venue became apparent to all when John presented each Board member present, including the newly elected directors, with a ball cap emblazoned “OKC.” NAFUSA will be heading to Oklahoma City in 2024.

Although the conference is many months away, planning is already well underway. We have contracted with a unique and historic hotel, the National, which is in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City, within walking distance of great restaurants, conveniently located near desirable OKC destinations, and just ten minutes from Will Rogers International Airport. The National is a Marriott Autograph Collection managed property and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel is located in the First National Center, a 32-story building which originally opened in 1931 as an iconic bank and landmark monument. The National comprises the first eight floors of the historic building and opened in April 2022 catering to business travelers and those interested in historic stays. Be prepared to see original murals and bank vault doors, many shops, restaurants, and bars, as well as the Library of Distilled Spirits located in the building’s famous bank vault.

Stay tuned for more information about the OKC conference in the months ahead.