Veteran Prosecutor to Join Paul Hastings

Drew Combs

The American Lawyer

August 12, 2009

U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien has taken on international drug cartels, some of the West Coast's toughest street gangs, and human smuggling rings. But now he has to do something that may be even more challenging: build a book of business.

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker announced Tuesday that O'Brien, who has been U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California since 2007, will become a partner in the firm's Los Angeles office, where he will focus on white-collar cases.

"The people I met at Paul Hastings are top notch attorneys and I look forward to working with the firm to help them develop a white-collar practice in Los Angeles," says O'Brien, who was appointed U.S. Attorney by President George W. Bush after more than two years as the office's criminal division chief.

He joins the firm Oct. 1.

While O'Brien joins a white-collar and securities litigation practice with 60 attorneys nationwide, he will be the firm's only Los Angeles-based white-collar partner. That's because the firm's white-collar talent is concentrated in New York and Washington, D.C, managing partner Greg Nitzkowski says.

"An obvious gap in our practice was a high profile white-collar partner in California," Nitzkowski says. "[O'Brien] represents an opportunity to realize a long-term goal to add significantly to our white-collar practice on the west coast."

O'Brien's career trajectory doesn't suggest that being a partner at a leading national firm has been a long-term goal. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he spent 13 years as a Radar Intercept Officer, racking up 2,000 hours in F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft.

His naval career was followed by University of San Diego School of Law, and then 16 years as a prosecutor -- first as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, where he spent five years in the hardcore gang division, then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles.

Although he's never worked in private practice, O'Brien was quick to defend his white-collar bona fides, pointing out that he has personally prosecuted white-collar criminal matters related to health care and bank fraud. He also noted he has supervised the nation's biggest team of white-collar criminal prosecutors as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

During his tenure at the head of the Justice Department's Los Angeles outpost, one of O'Brien's most high-profile cases was the prosecution of Lori Drew, a St. Louis area mother who was involved in a MySpace-related hoax that led a 13-year-old girl to commit suicide.

Last month, a judge dismissed the case against Drew, who had earlier been found guilty of three misdemeanor charges.

"I bring to the table a wide-ranging career as an aggressive litigator and trial attorney," O'Brien says.

But, much like other lawyers coming into private practice from the government, O'Brien doesn't bring clients.

"It will take sometime to build up his practice," Nitzkowski says. "But for firms that are doing well we think this is a great time to invest in talent that over the long-term will make our practice more attractive."

Of course, some of the firm's recent investments might pay off a little more quickly. On Monday, Paul Hastings announced the addition of three Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom patent litigators to the firm's Palo Alto, Calif., and Washington, D.C., offices.

The trio includes Jeffrey Randall, who represented eBay in its dispute with MercExchange. Randall will co-chair the firm's global intellectual property practice.

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.