Britannia Radio

MAY 28, 2009

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor Resigns

UPDATE: Ernst & Young has announced that Taylor will join the firm as the Americas leader of the Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services area. In that role, he'll help companies deal with the complex issues related to fraud, regulatory compliance, and business disputes.

"Under Jeff's leadership we will enhance our brand and expand the breadth of our capabilities, as his broad experience will help us advise clients on matters of corporate governance, transparency and ethics," said Steve Howe, the firm's Americas Area managing partner, in a statement.

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Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has announced his resignation, effective tomorrow. Taylor, 44, who has served as the District's top prosecutor on an interim basis since September 2006, will join Ernst & Young’s Washington office next month, according to a source familiar with the matter. A spokeswoman for the firm declined to comment.

“Serving the residents of the District of Columbia has been the most rewarding experience of my professional life,” Taylor said in a statement. “It has been my distinct honor to have led the extraordinary talented and dedicated men and women in this office for more than 2 1⁄2 years. It has also been a privilege to work with some of the finest law enforcement agencies in the country who work tirelessly to make this city safe.”

From 2002 to 2006, Taylor (Stanford, Harvard Law) was counselor to Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, for whom he handled a range of matters, including oversight of the department’s national security, terrorism, and criminal litigation, and policy efforts. Following a four-year stint as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, Taylor served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1999 to 2002.

Though his nomination never moved out of committee, and despite early concerns that he lacked ties to the community, Taylor has been widely praised throughout his tenure as U.S. attorney. Once his first interim period expired, judges on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia unanimously voted to extend his stay. Taylor withdrew his nomination in September.

It was not immediately clear who will plug Taylor's spot until his successor is confirmed. (The BLT has a call into the Justice Department.) The 17-member commission tasked with reviewing candidates for U.S. attorney began interviews this week, one of the final stages before the body makes its recommendations to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Seven lawyers have applied for the job, according to the sources, including Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner Ron Machen; Channing Phillips, the District’s principal assistant U.S. attorney; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Austin Jr. As The Washington Post reported earlier today, and sources have confirmed, Nixon Peabody partner Anjali Chaturvedi andShanlon Wu, of Wheat Wu, have also applied for the post. Both, like Machen, are former federal prosecutors.