Assistant U.S. Attorney to Join Silicon Valley Office
PALO ALTO, CA (October 27, 2004) — Matthew J. Jacobs, a six-year veteran of the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of California, will join McDermott Will & Emery's Silicon Valley office as a partner in the Firm's Trial Department. In January 2005, Mr. Jacobs will become a key member of the Firm's White-Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group, which currently includes 14 former senior prosecutors from U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country and from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
"McDermott Will & Emery is developing the finest white-collar criminal defense practice in the country. As our first white-collar criminal defense partner in our Silicon Valley office, Matt joins an incredibly deep team, including Gordon Greenberg, James Sanders and recent lateral Russ Hayman, all of whom are based in our Los Angeles office, providing the foundation for our white-collar practice in Northern California," said Jeffrey Stone, head of the Firm's White-Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group. "Matt's vast experience in cases involving allegations of securities fraud and money laundering will significantly add to the resources of our white-collar criminal defense practice."
Mr. Jacobs has extensive prosecutorial experience in securities fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and health care fraud. He prosecuted the subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company that resulted in the corporation pleading guilty to 10 felonies and paying the largest ever civil and criminal fines and penalties based on a failure to inform the government of life-threatening defects in a medical device. As a prosecutor, Mr. Jacobs has been lead trial counsel of numerous cases in San Francisco federal court, and is the recipient of the 2003 Director's Award for the trial convictions obtained in a complex international bank fraud scheme.
In addition to prosecuting cases, Mr. Jacobs has been the press spokesman for U.S. Attorneys Kevin Ryan, David Shapiro and Robert S. Mueller, III, and responsible for all contacts between the media and the U.S. Attorney's Office. He co-teaches a course at the University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law, entitled "The Defense and Prosecution of White Collar Crime" and also periodically guest lectures at other law schools.
"Matt was one of the most visible and successful Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Northern California," commented Anthony de Alcuaz, partner-in-charge for the Firm's Silicon Valley office. "We are excited that Matt has decided to join our team in the Silicon Valley and add the resources of a white-collar criminal defense practice to our growing office."
Mr. Jacobs graduated Order of the Coif from Stanford Law School, where he served as associate editor of the Law Review and won the Hilmer Oehlmann, Jr, Award for legal research and writing. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, he clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and was in private practice in San Francisco. He also has an extensive background in journalism with a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School. Prior to law school, Mr. Jacobs was an award-winning editorial page editor of a Louisiana newspaper.
