Yet Another Former Prosecutor Decides To Practice White Collar Criminal Law At Private Law Firm

The trend that we’ve highlighted recently – federal prosecutors moving to private law firms to practice white collar criminal law – is continuing. In a big way. A lot of smart people must believe that there is going to be a large, growing need for white collar criminal defense lawyers in the future.

In the most recent announcement that we have seen, Thomas P. O’Brien, the former U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California, is joining the Paul Hastings law firm and will be based in its Los Angeles office. His practice will focus primarily on white collar criminal matters and internal corporate investigations.
 
O’Brien will no doubt be a high quality defense lawyer in great demand – he knows what the “other side” (i.e., the government) is thinking. As U.S. Attorney, he was responsible for all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as all civil matters involving the United States, in the largest federal district in the country, encompassing seven counties and more than 18 million residents. In addition to his responsibilities as U.S. Attorney, O’Brien sat on President George W. Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and was chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s Cyber/Intellectual Property Subcommittee.
 
Interesting trend, no?