Former US Attorney Neil H. MacBride will be joining David Polk’s white-collar criminal defense, the NY Times reported today. He will be starting work from early next year after overseeing many high-profile cases including bringing criminal charges against Edward Snowden, the man who told the world about NSA data collection.
MacBride also conducted the prosecution of the high-seas piracy case that resulted in the conviction of 26 Somali pirates.
According to Thomas J. Reid, the managing partner of Davis Polk, white collar criminal defense work has been piling up and his firm was finding it difficult to accommodate the work load. So the addition of a high profile prosecutor like MacBride, who would be fully aware about the strengths and weaknesses of prosecution, would be helpful.
Reid said in an interview “The biggest headache I have right now is staffing the burgeoning caseload we have in New York, D.C. and Asia.”
Apparently corruption cases, foreign bribery cases, and internal corporate investigations are at an all-time high.
MacBride will be joining an elite team of former government officials like Job Leibowitz, the former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and Linda Chatman Thomsen, a former enforcement chief of the US S.E.C.
MacBride, prior to becoming a US Attorney, was the chief counsel for Joe Biden Jr., from 2001 to 2005. He also worked as a general counsel for a software industry trade group and in a number of government posts.
MacBride won’t start working for Davis Polk before April, but by all signs he is happy with the situation. His annual income would increase significantly considering that the average partner earned about $2.5 million last year at Davis Polk, while his salary as an US Attorney was about $155,000.
MacBride insists he chose Davis Polk because of its culture and camaraderie.