Legal News

From U.S. Attorney?s Office to Second Circuit for Ray Lohier?

By Ashby Jones

We’re sure it happens from time to time, but it’s not every day that you hear of a lawyer in the U.S. attorney’s office getting the bump up to federal appellate judge without at least, well, doing something else first.

But that’s what could happen to Raymond Lohier, who, since August of last year, has served as the chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Sen. Charles Schumer (D. NY) earlier this week nominated Lohier for the seat that opened up when Sonia Sotomayor bolted for the Supreme Court. Click here for a story on the nomination, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Out of law school, Lohier (Harvard, NYU Law) clerked for U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson, then spent a few years at Cleary Gottlieb before joining the U.S. attorney’s office in 2000. In his time there, Lohier also served as deputy chief and chief of the Narcotics Unit.

Said Schumer: "Mr. Lohier is not only a highly qualified candidate for the Second Circuit and a lawyer whose views have been tempered by a broad range of experiences, but, as a proud Haitian American, he is a candidate who would enhance the diversity of the federal bench."

Lohier worked on the Marc Dreier case, which ended with the disgraced lawyer pleading guilty fraud charges and receiving a 20-year prson sentence. He has also helped to oversee the Bernard Madoff investigation since last year.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 10, 2010 (boomark / email).