On December 13, 2024, Attorney General Merrick Garland presented the
DOJ’s 2024 Sherman Award to NAFUSA member William “Bill” Baer. Baer
headed anti-trust enforcement at both the FTC and the DOJ, winning
important victories in high profile cases and garnering accolades for his work.
He was twice named the best competition lawyer in the world by Global
Competition Review and twice honored as the Best Antitrust Lawyer in
Washington by Best Lawyers. He was named by The National Law Journal as
one of “The Decades Most Influential Lawyers.” In 2015 the FTC honored him
with the Miles W. Kirkpatrick Lifetime Achievement Award.

Baer served as the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division
under President Obama from January 2013 to April 2016 and thereafter as
Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the DOJ, until
January 2017. Among other complex high-profile cases, Baer led the DOJ’s
challenge to the InBev-Modelo merger and the proposed merger between US
Airways and American Airlines, securing a settlement in that case which
required the airlines to relinquish their stranglehold on over 130 slots at some
of the country’s busiest airports. He is currently a partner at Arnold & Porter
and since January 2020 has been a visiting fellow in Governance Studies at
the Brookings Institution.

According to AG Garland, Baer is rightly regarded as a preeminent expert on
antitrust issues of every kind. “Throughout his life, Bill has been a fierce
believer in competition and in protecting competition in almost everything he
does.” Garland went on to describe Baer as “…a kind, wise, and inspiring
leader, devoted to the people of this department and to the people of this
country.”

Longtime NAFUSA member Donna Bucella was elected the 2024-2025 NAFUSA President at the general meeting in Oklahoma City (OKC) on September 27, 2024. Donna has been an active NAFUSA member, Director and Officer and, most recently, served as President Elect. She has successfully held a number of prestigious positions, both within government and in the public sector. She is currently Chief Compliance Officer for 7-Eleven, the largest convenience store chain in the United States.

Donna was appointed by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Attorney (USA) for the Middle District of Florida in 1999 and was the first U.S. Senate confirmed female USA in the State of Florida. Prior to that she led the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) as Director from 1997-1999 after holding other leadership positions within that agency.

Donna is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law and received a B.A. from the University of Virginia. After graduating law school, she served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps on active duty from 1984-1987, followed by membership in the Army Reserve until 2008 when she retired with the rank of Colonel.

In addition to her positions within the Department of Justice, Donna held leadership
positions with the Transportation Security Administration and was recruited by then FBI
Director Roert Mueller to create the Terrorist Screening Center, a multi-government agency post 9/11 for consolidating the U.S. Government’s approach to terrorist screening. From 2010 -2013 she served as Assistant Commissioner, Office of Intelligence and Investigative Liaison with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). While in this position she was the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award.

Donna practiced law in firms in Miami, Florida, and Washington, D.C. and held positions
with the Bank of America, Perot Systems, Education Management Corporation and
Guidepost Solutions, L.L.C. where she was President, Compliance. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the U.S. Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award, the highest award given by the Attorney General.

NAFUSA is fortunate to have such a highly qualified and committed former U.S. Attorney as our president for 2024-2025. She announced in OKC that the 2025 NAFUSA  Annual Conference will be October 8-10, 2025 in Washington, D.C. at the Willard Hotel. It will be great!

Newly elected NAFUSA Board of Directors member Scott Schools has recently been
appointed Chief Compliance Officer for OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research and
deployment organization founded in 2015, headquartered in San Francisco. Scott served as the US Attorney for the Northern District of California 2007-2008 and South Carolina February 2001 to November 2001, as well as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S.Department of Justice from January 2008 to February 2013. Most recently he was employed as Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Uber Technologies.

Scott was the keynote speaker at the NAFUSA 2024 Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In a conversation with then NAFUSA president John Richter at the conference’s closing dinner on Friday night, Scott described the importance of the role he held as the DOJ’s senior career official for over five years, a position held for many years prior to that by David Margolis. In that capacity he advised Attorneys General and Deputy Attorneys General on significant DOJ matters with a focus on ethics and professional responsibility.

United States Attorneys met for the last U.S. Attorneys Conference of the Biden
administration in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. U.S. Attorneys have met in similar
conferences in D.C. since 1939. The 2024 U.S. Attorneys Conference, held at Main DOJ, was a two and a half day meeting beginning on Tuesday, September 10th with most Districts represented. It was, as NAFUSA members most likely recall from their own days as U.S. Attorneys, an opportunity to get together with colleagues from other districts whom they have met through work on cases or interaction on AGAC subcommittees. We hope they continue to maintain these relationships through NAFUSA membership!

The Conference consisted, in large measure, of presentations highlighting progress and
challenges over the past year addressing program areas including violent crime, fentanyl and other drug cases. It is no surprise that significant attention was focused on increased efforts to ensure maintaining election integrity.

The conference culminated with an address by Attorney General Merrick Garland (AG) on Thursday in the Great Hall. He thanked the more than 115,000 Department of Justice employees for their work on behalf of the American people and for their “ironclad
commitment to the principles of fairness and impartiality that have long guided it…”
The title and theme of the AG’s remarks was “An Independent Justice Department”
reminding prosecutors of the enormous power they hold as federal prosecutors and the
responsibility that comes with it. He also talked about his first job at the Justice
Department working for Attorney General Civiletti in which he assisted on a project to
formalize a set of norms to guide the work of the DOJ. The result was Principles of Federal Prosecution first published in 1980 and now a main fixture in the U.S. Attorneys Manual.

The full text of the Attorney General’s remarks as delivered can be found on the attached link:

An Independent Justice Department

DOJ and the importance of maintaining the independence of the DOJ and the work of the U.S. Attorneys Offices.

Jeff Taylor, member of the NAFUSA Board of Directors and former United
States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 2006 to 2009, joined
ExxonMobil in May 2024 as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.
Taylor moved to his new position from Fox Corporation, where he was
Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Prior to joining Fox, Taylor was
the Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for General Motors
Co., and General Counsel of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. For more
than 15 years he served with the Department of Justice and as Counsel to the
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Taylor replaces former NAFUSA member Craig Morford who is set to retire in
July after five years as general counsel at ExxonMobil. Morford served more
than 20 years with the Department of Justice including assignments as U.S.
Attorney in Michigan and Tennessee before joining Cardinal Health as their
Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. As some of you may recall, Craig Morford
was the 2005 Bradford Award winner. We wish him well in his retirement and
Jeff congratulations on this new position.

The NAFUSA Board of Directors met for its spring meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 13, 2024. Eight directors and all four officers attended in person and five additional directors joined by telephone. In addition to discussing and making decisions regarding the management of the Association, its activities and financial matters, the semi-annual meetings have traditionally been an excellent way for NAFUSA board members and invited guests to get to know each other better while taking care of NAFUSA business. This meeting certainly lived up to tradition.

The meeting was held in the beautiful Charleston Place Hotel, located centrally in the
historic district of Charleston, which, in addition to famous landmarks, is home to the
Charleston Marketplace, amazing restaurants and great shopping opportunities. April is
certainly a great time to visit Charleston!

The Board reviewed financial reports and heard from Executive Director Wendy Goggin regarding the financial status of the Association, including a discussion of the results of the 2023 Annual conference. She also discussed the status of sponsorships already received or pledged for the 2024 Conference in Oklahoma City as well as other NAFUSA business. Deputy Director Lisa Rafferty provided an update on membership numbers – there are currently 359 members, including 140 lifetime members. There are eleven Sustaining Members (see the website for their names). She also advised about the number of unpaid 2024 membership dues.

Much of the meeting was devoted to discussion of the upcoming 2024 Annual Conference to be held in OKC September 25 through 27, 2024. Programming is well underway with many speakers lined up for what promises to be another exciting conference. The members of the 2024 Conference Committee have been working hard to bring outstanding continuing legal education programming to the OKC conference on interesting topics both relevant and timely for our members and guests.

The members in attendance in Charleston enjoyed indulging in the southern cuisine that
the city is famous for, while soaking up the beauty and atmosphere of the historic district. The attached pictures say it all!

Atlanta area NAFUSA members – who like to be called the “(unofficial) Atlanta Chapter of NAFUSA”- gathered on Wednesday February 21, 2024 at an undisclosed, but clearly fine, location. Thanks to Holly Hampton of Womble Bond Dickinson for sharing the photo with us. From left to right: current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Ryan K. Buchanan; Judge William “Bill” S. Duffey, Jr. (Retired) (2001-2004); Hon. John A. Horn (King & Spalding) (2015-2017); twice-appointed former U.S. Attorney for the Northern (Atlanta 1990-1993) and Middle (Macon 1981-1986) Districts of Georgia, Joe Whitley (middle); Hon. Richard “Rick” H. Deane (Jones Day) (1998-2001); Jr., Hon. Larry D. Thompson (Finch McCranie/Retired) (1982-1986); and Hon. Robert “Bob” L. Barr, Jr. (1986-1990).