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Barbara L. McQuade (ICLE).

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who has been nominated to head the Detroit U.S. Attorney’s office, believes the office has a productivity problem, The Detroit News reports. The question of whether the office has an issue with productivity was raised during interviews with prospective appointees for the U.S. Attorney slot, the newspaper reports.

While McQuade confirmed she believes there are such problems, interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg, who was considered by some to be the recommending committee’s favorite, said there were no productivity issues, The News reports.

The recommending committee apparently sided with McQuade, advancing her name to the White House in June. President Obama formally nominated McQuade to be the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday. The News reports that McQuade’s “lack of supervisory experience was seen as a handicap” in being recommended for the position.

The News reports that there has been “intense arguments among attorneys and career prosecutors” about the output and efficiency, or lack thereof, in the U.S. Attorney’s office. Some argue the office has allowed local prosecutors to handle smaller cases in order to allow the U.S. Attorney’s office to handle the larger cases, as it is a better allocation of resources, The News reports.

McQuade’s recommendation and nomination might be an indication the recommending committee is taking the appearance of delays seriously, The News reports. Ann Arbor, Mich., attorney John Minock told The News, “The change I would expect to see is that more prosecutions will be brought, and in a timely manner, instead of after lengthy delay.”

U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani, who has handled several of the cases McQuade has prosecuted, told The News, “She has to be tremendously organized,” adding, “I know she has four kids — little kids. How she does that and does the work she does is amazing to me.” However she has help from her husband Daniel Hurley, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the appeals division of the office, the newspaper reports. In order to avoid potential conflicts, Hurley will begin reporting to a supervisor in an office outside Detroit.

If confirmed, McQuade, who also serves as  deputy chief of the national security unit in the office, would be the first female U.S. Attorney in Detroit’s history, according to The News.