Joshua Berman, a former federal prosecutor and candidate for U.S. Attorney in Detroit, has joined the Washington office of Katten Muchin Rosenman as a partner in the litigation and dispute practice, the firm announced.

Berman, who spent seven years as a prosecutor based in New York and Washington, was most recently head of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal’s Washington-based litigation practice and co-chairman of its white-collar and government investigations practice.

Since leaving the Justice Department  in 2004, Berman has represented several clients in high-profile corruption matters, including two figures in the sweeping influence-peddling investigation centered on Jack Abramoff and his associates.

One of his clients, Robert Coughlin, a former deputy in the Justice Department’s Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, was sentenced in November to 30 days in a halfway house for accepting about $5,000 in meals, drinks and tickets from an Abramoff lobbyist.

Another client, Kevin Koonce, a former aide to Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), was cleared of wrongdoing and recently filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, alleging prosecutorial abuse.

Berman (Cornell, Michigan Law) was a prosecutor in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section from 2002 to 2004. Before moving to Washington, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York’s Southern District.

Last fall, a Justice Department official told Main Justice that Berman was among the finalists for the nomination to be U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan, but President Barack Obama ultimately nominated then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade for the position. She was confirmed last month.

Katten Muchin Rosenman also welcomed Glen Donath, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the D.C. office’s Fraud and Public Corruption Section. Donath, who also came from Sonnenschein, represented Koonce along with Berman.

Donath (Yale, University of Chicago Law) also has represented health care providers, financial institutions, investment funds, insurance companies and other corporations in complex civil and criminal proceedings.

Also joining Berman and Donath at Katten is Howard Rubin, a health care and appellate specialist. He was previously national chairman of Sonnenschein’s appellate practice.

“We are thrilled to be joining Katten’s vibrant national litigation, health care and white collar and government investigations practices,” Berman said.

Barbara McQuade (DOJ)

Detriot’s new U.S. Attorney says she wants to help local prosecutors pursue violent criminals, The Associated Press reports. Barbara McQuade — who already has her hands full  preparing to prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas — told The AP that she doesn’t “want to step on toes” of local law enforcers.

But she said that given local budget constraints, it might make sense for federal prosecutors to offer assistance when possible.

Accused carjackers, armed robbers and people who illegally possess guns often can be prosecuted federally, if local prosecutors are unable to handle such cases, she told The AP.

McQuade was sworn in Jan. 4 as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. The Detroit area, home to struggling car makers, has been especially hard hit in the recession.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who was sworn in Monday to head the Detroit office, has announced the team of prosecutors who will handle the Justice Department’s case against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Turkel, Cathleen Corken and Michael Martin have been assigned to the case, McQuade said in an interview with The Detroit Free Press Tuesday.

Turkel, a 20-year veteran of the office, is chief the office’s National Security Unit. Corken spent  six years in the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section, four of them as deputy chief, before it was folded into the National Security Division. And Martin is a former trial lawyer in the NSD’s Counterespionage Section. He was also an intelligence analyst for the CIA.

“We assembled a team … with highly relevant experience for handling this case,” McQuade said.