Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday announced eight new U.S. Attorneys to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. The attorneys will serve two-year terms and will begin at the start of the new year, according to a news release.
The committee was created in 1973 and advises the Attorney General on policy and management issues facing the U.S. Attorneys, according to the release.
“These U.S. Attorneys bring a wealth of experience and diversity to the AGAC, and I will be relying on each of them for their wise counsel as we continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to advance the department’s efforts to preserve our national security, reduce violent crime and gang violence, promote civil rights, and ensure fairness in the marketplace,” Holder said in the release.
The eight appointees include:
- Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California. Duffy previously worked as a U.S. Attorney in the general crimes section and narcotics enforcement section. Before becoming a U.S. Attorney, Duffy worked in the DOJ’s Criminal Division as an attorney in the money laundering and dangerous drug sections.
- Timothy J. Heaphy of the Western District of Virginia. Heaphy previously worked as a partner with McGuire Woods LLP and associate with Morrison and Foerster LLP. He also served as deputy managing U.S. Attorney in Western District of Virginia and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
- Brendan V. Johnson of the District of South Dakota. Johnson previously worked as a partner with Johnson, Heidepriem, Abdallah and Johnson LLP and legal adviser to his father, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). He also worked as deputy state’s attorney in Minnehaha County in South Dakota.
- Pamela C. Marsh of the Northern District of Florida. Marsh previously worked as counsel and associate for Akerman Senterfitt and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. She also served as an associate with Annis, Mitchell, Cockey, Edwards & Roehn.
- Carmen Milagros Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts. Ortiz previously worked as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Honors Program, Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, attorney with Marinelli and Morisi, program associate for the Center of Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School and legal counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She also served as director of district courts and director of training in the District Attorney’s Office for Middlesex County.
- Robert L. Pitman of the Western District of Texas. Pitman previously worked as an associate with Fulbright and Jaworski LLP and attorney adviser to the General Counsel’s Office of the U.S. Attorney’s Executive Office. In the district, he also served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge, Deputy U.S. Attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Division Chief in Austin, Texas.
- James L. Santelle of the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Santelle previously served as the Justice Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2006 to 2008. Before that, he was the Western District of Michigan’s Civil Division Chief and the U.S. Attorneys’ Principal Deputy Director for the Executive Office.
- Carter M. Stewart of the Southern District of Ohio. Steward previously worked as a litigation associate with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and also at Bingham McCutchen LLP. He also served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California from 2003 to 2005.
Paul J. Fishman, U.S. Attorney in the District of New Jersey, will be the chair of the committee.
The following attorneys are no longer on the committee:
- B. Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota.
- Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
- Dennis Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona
- Sanford Coates, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma
- Jenny Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington
- Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
- Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
- Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana
- Peter F. Neronha, U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island
- Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama
- Peter Jongbloed, Criminal Chief for the District of Connecticut
- Gretchen Witt, Civil Chief for the District of New Hampshire.
Top, from left: Duffy, Heaphy. Johnson, Marsh; Bottom, from left: Ortiz, Pitman, Santelle, Stewart
