Boies Schiller Flexner today announced that two senior officials from the U.S. Department of Justice will join the firm as partners in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, strengthening the firm’s white collar and trial capabilities as well as underlining the firm’s commitment to a strong bench of talent and experience and a culture of excellence.
Lauren Bell, Senior Counsel and former Acting Chief of Staff to the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, will join the firm in Washington D.C. later this month. John Kucera, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and coordinator of the Los Angeles High Intensity Financial Crimes Area Task Force, will join the firm in Los Angeles in August.
“Lauren and John are both exceptional lawyers. Their arrival demonstrates in the strongest terms the firm’s commitment to our white collar practice, as well as to Southern California,” said Managing Partner Natasha Harrison. “While other firms are scaling back, we remain committed to transforming our firm to ensure its long-term success, and that includes making long-term investments in outstanding lawyers like John and Lauren. I am delighted to welcome them to the firm,” Harrison said.
Lauren Bell has served for over a year as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, including for a portion of that time as the Criminal Division’s Acting Chief of Staff. In that role, she managed the oversight of all 16 criminal division sections, advised on press and policy issues, and supervised responses to congressional inquiries. Prior to that, Bell was a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, and a state prosecutor in Ohio. She began her career as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Bell graduated from Stanford Law School, has an undergraduate degree from Harvard, and a Masters in Economics from Stanford.
John Kucera has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California for the past dozen years. He has been at the forefront of foreign corruption and asset forfeiture matters and has worked with regulators and law enforcement officials all over the world. He has tried numerous jury and non-jury trials, argued many appeals before the Ninth Circuit, and for the past seven years has served as the Los Angeles coordinator of the High Intensity Financial Crimes Area Task Force. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, John was Assistant Chief Counsel in the Department of Homeland Security, and started his career as a state prosecutor in Cook County, Illinois. He graduated from University of Illinois Chicago for both undergraduate and law school, and subsequently clerked on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
“Boies Schiller Flexner is well known for its involvement at the highest levels in white collar investigations throughout the world, acting for both corporations and individuals, victims and suspects. No other firm has such a breadth of practice. I’m thrilled to be joining the firm at this incredibly exciting time,” Kucera said.
The two appointments follow the arrival of Tracey Dovaston, the former Managing Director of Litigation Investigations and Enforcement for the EME region at Barclays, who joined the firm in January to further build the regulatory and investigations practice in London. Jesse Panuccio, the former acting Associate Attorney General of the United States, joined the firm in Washington D.C. and Florida in November.