Leahy Steers Vermont U.S. Attorney Nominee
Through Judiciary Committee, On Track To Become
One Of The First Headed For Senate Confirmation

. . . Hinesburg Attorney Tristram Coffin Was Recommended By Leahy
For State’s Top Federal Prosecutor Post

(THURSDAY, June 18) – Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday won the panel’s approval of the nomination of Hinesburg attorney Tristram J. Coffin to be Vermont’s next U.S. Attorney.  

Leahy has kept Vermont’s candidate on a fast legislative track.  Coffin and two others are the first three U.S. Attorney nominees the panel has approved from the new administration.  President Obama, who had accepted Leahy’s recommendation to nominate Coffin, sent the nomination to the Senate only last month, on May 15.

Leahy, a former prosecutor himself, said, “Tris Coffin has the skills and experience we need in this crucial law enforcement role.  I’m especially encouraged by his past work on drug-crime issues, which remain one of our state’s top law enforcement priorities.”

Coffin, 45, would be the 36^th 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 handle federal 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. 

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