President To Nominate Tristram Coffin
To Be U.S. Attorney For Vermont
. . . Hinesburg Attorney Was Recommended By Leahy
For State’s Top Federal Prosecutor Post
(FRIDAY, May 15) – President Obama has accepted the
recommendation of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and announced Friday that
he will nominate Hinesburg attorney Tristram J. Coffin to be Vermont’s
next U.S. Attorney.
Coffin will be one of the first six U.S. Attorneys to
be nominated by the new President. Leahy said, “Tris Coffin’s
experience as a prosecutor and in the courtroom makes him a good match
for this difficult job. His work on drug-crime issues in
particular will help him hit the ground running in dealing with one of
our state’s top law enforcement priorities. I appreciate the
President’s prompt action in filling an important vacancy in Vermont’s
law enforcement community.”
Coffin, 45, would be the 36th
United States Attorney in Vermont’s history, managing the U.S.
Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney offices in Burlington and Rutland
and overseeing the work of nearly 20 attorneys who represent the United
States in criminal and civil investigations and litigation in Vermont.
Coffin served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the
Vermont district’s criminal division from 1998 to 2006 and in the civil
division from 1994 until 1998. Since 2006 he has been in private
practice in Burlington with the firm of Paul Frank & Collins, P.C.
He worked as a staff attorney for Leahy on the Senate Judiciary
Committee from 1991 to 1994 and has a law degree from Columbia
University and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University.
He has been recognized for outstanding work with the New England
Organized Crime and Drug Task Force.
Leahy, a former prosecutor himself, recommended Coffin
for the post. As the senior senator of the President’s party,
Leahy has the prerogative of suggesting candidates for U.S. Attorney
positions and for other posts in Vermont. Leahy also chairs the
Senate Judiciary Committee, which will handle the confirmation process
for Coffin’s nomination in the U.S. Senate.
Leahy said the President’s formal nomination of Coffin
is expected to arrive in the Senate on Monday.
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2009
President Obama Nominates Preet Bharara, Tristram Coffin, Jenny Durkan,
Paul Fishman, John Paul Kacavas and Joyce Vance for US Attorney
WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama
today announced his intent to nominate Preet Bharara, Tristram Coffin,
Jenny Durkan, Paul Fishman, John Paul Kacavas and Joyce Vance for U.S.
Attorney.
“This group of men and women have
distinguished themselves as fair, tenacious and respected attorneys
throughout their careers in both public and private service,”
President Obama said. “They will serve their country with
distinction as US Attorneys and it is my honor to nominate them for
these esteemed positions.”
Preet Bharara:
Nominee for U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York
Preet Bharara, 40, is Chief Counsel
for Senator Schumer (D-NY) and from 2005 to 2009 served as Staff
Director of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts.
During his tenure, he helped lead the Senate Judiciary Committee
investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. From 2000
to 2005, Mr. Bharara served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the
Southern District of New York, working in the General Crimes, Narcotics,
and Organized Crime/Terrorism Units. From 1993 to 2000, he worked
in private practice as a litigation associate - at Swidler Berlin
Shereff Friedman in New York from 1996 to 2000 and at Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher in New York from 1993 to 1996. Mr. Bharara was named 2007 South
Asian Lawyer of the Year by the North American South Asian Bar
Association. He graduated from Harvard College (1990) and Columbia
Law School (1993).
Tristram Coffin: Nominee
for U.S. Attorney, District of Vermont
Tristram Coffin, 46, has been of
counsel at Paul Frank & Collins, a law firm in Burlington, Vermont,
since 2006. From 1994 to 2006, Mr. Coffin was an Assistant U.S. Attorney
in the District of Vermont, serving in the Civil Division for four years
and the Criminal Division for eight years. From 1991 to 1994, he
was a counsel to Senator Leahy (D-VT) on the Committee on the Judiciary,
Subcommittee on Technology and the Law. Prior to that, Mr. Coffin
spent two years as a litigation associate at Hale and Dorr in Boston.
Following graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge
Albert Coffrin in the District of Vermont. Mr. Coffin graduated
from Wesleyan University (1985) and Columbia University Law School
(1989).
Jenny Durkan:
Nominee for U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington
Jenny Durkan, 51, is a noted civil
and criminal litigator in private practice. Since 1997, she has owned
the Law Offices of Jenny Durkan in Seattle, WA. Ms. Durkan began
her legal career as an associate at the law firm Schroeter, Goldmark &
Bender, and later worked at Williams & Connolly, and Foster, Pepper &
Riviera. She has served as counsel to Washington Governor
Christine Gregoire and taught trial advocacy at the University of
Washington School of Law. Ms. Durkan graduated from the University
of Notre Dame (1980) and the University of Washington School of
Law (1985).
Paul Fishman:
Nominee for U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey
Paul Fishman, 52, has been a partner
at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP in Newark, New Jersey since
1997. From 1994 to 1997, he worked in the Office of the Deputy
Attorney General at the Department of Justice. Mr. Fishman spent
ten years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New
Jersey, from 1983 to 1993. During his tenure in the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, he worked in the Office’s Special Prosecutions
Division, served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division/Chief of
Narcotics, Chief of the Criminal Division and First Assistant. He
coordinated Trenton’s Weed & Seed program, including helping to
implement a Violent Offenders Removal Program and, with the Mayor’s
office, a Safe Haven program keeping schools open after hours for
additional activities. Following law school, Mr. Fishman clerked
for Judge Edward Becker on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He
graduated from Princeton University (1978) and Harvard Law School
(1982), where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review.
John Paul Kacavas:
Nominee for U.S. Attorney, District of New Hampshire
John Paul Kacavas, 48, is a partner
at Kacavas Ramsdell & Howard, P.L.C.C., in Manchester, New Hampshire, a
firm he co-founded in 2002. Prior to that, he spent five years
working in private practice at Wiggin & Nourie – from 2000 to 2002 and
from 1990 to 1993. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Kacavas served as
a prosecutor in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, eventually
becoming chief of the Homicide Unit. In 1999, he served as a trial
attorney on the United States Department of Justice Campaign Finance
Task Force. Mr. Kacavas served one term as a member of the New
Hampshire House of Representatives. Mr. Kacavas graduated from St.
Michael’s College (1983), received his Masters in International
Relations from American University (1987), and his J.D. from Boston
College Law School (1990).
Joyce Vance:
Nominee for U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Alabama
Joyce White Vance, 48, is Chief of
the Appellate Division in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern
District of Alabama, where she has served since 1991. She began as
an Assistant United States Attorney in 1991 in the Criminal Division and
moved to the Appellate Division in 2002. As an AUSA, Vance
participated in the preliminary investigation of Eric Rudolph after the
bombing of the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham and on the
investigation of several church fires that occurred across the Northern
District of Alabama. From 1988 to 1991, Ms. Vance was an associate
at a Birmingham law firm, Bradley, Arant, Rose and White. Vance
graduated from Bates College (1982) and the University of Virginia Law
School (1985).
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