The Fiske Fellowship was established in 2001 at the University of Michigan Law School by NAFUSA member Robert Fiske, ’55, a senior counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell and a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Three-year fellowships are awarded annually to up to four Michigan Law graduates who serve as government lawyers. Fellows receive a $5,000 first-year cash stipend and debt repayment assistance to cover required annual payments for all educational loans, a combination that provides much-needed financial breathing room.

In establishing the fellowship, Fiske hoped to encourage more Michigan Law students and recent graduates to consider government service, despite the lure of larger paychecks in the private sector.

Bob Fiske is shown below in a photo from the Spring 2015 edition of Law Quadrangle, Notes from Michigan Law, with the 2014 Fellows (left to right): Samuel Hall, ’13, Elizabeth Grossman, ’12, Meridith Garry, ’13, and Austin Hakes, ’12.

NAFUSA Foundation President Mike McKay (WD of Washington 1989-1993), shown left, and William Hyslop (ED of Washington 1991-1993, and president-elect of the Washington State Bar Association), shown right, have joined the effort in Washington to try to convince the state senate to reconsider its announced budget cuts for the state courts.

In an OpEd in The Seattle Times on April 28, 2015, entitled Budget cuts threaten justice, McKay says,

Though Washington ranks dead last among the 50 states in the percentage of state funding for the courts — our judicial branch receives just two-fifths of 1 percent of the state budget — the state    Senate is now proposing even deeper cuts in the funding of our court system.

 

Hyslop’s OpEd was published in The Spokesman-Review on April 26,2105. In Further court cuts jeopardize system, Hyslop argues,

Lawmakers must balance the budget and provide for many, many services to Washingtonians. As part of that balance, a fair and functioning judicial system is not a luxury. It is a basic tenet of American governance, a right of the people. It protects us from the abuses of all kinds of power and helps the rest of government and society to function.

Continuing to cut court budgets in this manner harms everyone.

 

In a follow up interview, McKay stated:

These cuts are grossly disproportionate to those made for the rest of state government.  The state supreme court recently ordered the legislature to increase its appropriations to public schools, ruling that the decades-long practice of allocating fewer and fewer dollars for public schools has violated our state constitution.  It has been speculated by some that these draconian cuts are calculated to punish the state supreme court for enforcing the constitution.

NAFUSA board member and life member Bill Leone (Colorado 2004-2006) has been named Head of Disputes for the New York office of Norton Rose Fulbright. In addition, he is now the Chairman at the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission. Bill served as US Attorney in Colorado and led several high profile, complex white collar investigations including the prosecution of Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio. He is shown above moderating the ethics panel at the NAFUSA Boston conference in 2014.

Norton Rose Fulbright is the 3rd largest law firm in the world following the combination of Norton Rose LLP and Fulbright & Jaworski, with 55 offices around the globe, including North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Bill continues to spend time in Denver where he maintains his practice and has led the litigation group for the past four years. Bill’s practice includes investigations in the energy, medical device, health care and technology sectors, as well as a portfolio of white collar cases and civil and criminal trials.

NAFUSA member Richard Stacy (Wyoming 1981-1994) emerged from a successful surgery early this month which removed a malignant nodule on his right lung. In an opinion published on April 21, 2015 in The Denver Post, Stacy credits a doctor’s decision to order a CT scan of his chest. Read his opinion here,  Colorado Voices: A challenge to managed health care, where he urges that CT scans and other imaging techniques be used as part of routine physicals.

Alabama Attorney General Strange announced today the appointment of NAFUSA board member Alice Martin as Chief Deputy Attorney General effective May 1, 2015.  Martin, shown above at the NAFUSA 2013 conference in Washington, a Mississippi native, brings 25 years of experience in civil affirmative and defensive litigation, as well as criminal prosecution and defense.

“I am pleased to welcome Alice Martin as my new Chief Deputy Attorney General,” said Attorney General Strange, who spoke on a panel on immigration at NAFUSA’s 2012 conference in Atlanta.  “She possesses an extensive legal background in federal and state courts as well as in private practice.  A former assistant U.S. Attorney in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin continued her impressive career in Alabama as a Circuit Judge for the 11^th Judicial Circuit in Lauderdale County before President George W. Bush appointed her U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2001 to 2009.  She is also no stranger to the Alabama Attorney General’s office having recently served as Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts since 2013.”

The holder of an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and a law degree from the University of Mississippi, Martin is married to Louis Martin.  They live in Florence and have three adult daughters.

“I look forward to working with Attorney General Strange given his priorities and our good working relationship,” Martin observed.  “I could not pass on the exciting opportunity to join an office I greatly respect and work with the high caliber of professionals that represent the legal interests of this State.”

NAFUSA member Don DeGabrielle has joined the Government Investigations & White Collar Criminal Defense section of Chaffe McCall, L.L.P in Houston.

As a 35-year veteran of legal services, DeGabrielle’s experience includes defending a wide range of white collar criminal matters including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), healthcare fraud, immigration worksite enforcement matters, intellectual property and data intrusion statues. He has worked with clients on securities, compliance and corporate governance matters, criminal anti-trust statutes, bank and insurance fraud, and environmental regulations. He has also represented clients who have been victims of embezzlement and extortion.   His career in federal law enforcement includes service as a Special Agent with the FBI, an Assistant District Attorney, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. He has prosecuted matters involving public corruption, white-collar and environmental crimes, bank fraud, and general criminal and narcotics offenses.

DeGabrielle was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006 and sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Prior to this time he served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of the the Criminal Division and held an assignment with the Public Integrity Unit. He spent a year as the Resident Legal Advisor to the South African National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, where he served as a consultant and advisor for rule of law and criminal justice development. In addition to his tenure as the U.S. Attorney, he served as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, where he prosecuted more than 150 jury trials and also served as a former FBI Special Agent in New York and New Orleans.

Chaffe McCall is a full service law firm with a rich history of serving clients regionally, nationally, and internationally to address the challenges they face in numerous industry areas. Founded in 1826, Chaffe McCall LLP is Louisiana’s oldest law firm, with offices in Houston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lake Charles.

NAFUSA lifetime member John McKay continues his residency in Ramallah, Palestine, where for the past two years he has headed the U.S. State Dept. (INL) rule of law program supporting Palestinian public prosecutors, police and security services. (See February 7, 2015 post)

Recently he was visited by NAFUSA members Debra Yang and Marc Jimenez as they toured the Masada Fortress near the Dead Sea. McKay will take them on to visit Bethlehem and Nazareth today, before ending up in Tel Aviv tomorrow. Deb Yang reported, “Learning so much about the region, the people, and the history from our dear friend John McKay. He is doing the ‘good work’ out here.”

Yang will be busy upon her return to the U.S. According to a filing in the Northern District of California on April 13, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have replaced Uber’s prior legal team in its litigation over whether the company’s drivers are employees or independent contractors. Yang, of Gibson’s Los Angeles office, will be part of the new legal team.

Deb Yang, John McKay, Marc Jimenez

President Matt Orwig has scheduled the Spring NAFUSA meeting of the officers and board of directors for May 16, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. Orwig has also named Past President Jay Stephens, shown left, to a new position as Counsel to the Board.

Board member Hal Hardin will serve as the host in Nashville, having served as U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee, 1977-1981. Hardin’s Tennessee roots are shown by this article Prison Mates published in the Nashville Bar Journal in March 2015, where Hal reflects on his ancestors who fought in the the battle of New Orleans under General Andrew Jackson and the Civil War. Hal’s great grandfather, Isaac Henry Hardin was captured by General Ulysses S. Grant.

Hardin met last week in Big Bend National Park with Executive Director Rich Rossman and Executive Director Emeritus Ron Woods, where they vacationed with Susan Adzick, Patty Rossman, and Patty Woods. There was absolutely no discussion of NAFUSA matters, but there was a great time had by all.

Ron Woods, Hal Hardin, Rich Rossman