Group recommends 4 for U.S. attorney seat

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Two government lawyers and two private practitioners remain in the running for U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. The vacancy resulted from the resignation of Erik C. Peterson, who stepped down last month to join the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

They are Michael D. Leffel, Frank D. Remington, John W. Vaudreuil and Eric J. Wilson, all of Madison.

Seven candidates applied for the position to the Federal Nominating Commission, a group of 11 attorneys/commissioners from across the state. For the Western District vacancy, the commission was chaired by University of Wisconsin Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis Jr. The commission has forwarded its recommendations to U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold.

The government lawyers include Remington, an assistant attorney general with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, where he has worked since 1987. He began his law career as a clerk to Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Donald W. Steinmetz. He also serves as a municipal judge for the village of Shorewood Hills.

Vaudreuil has been an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin since 1980, and he has served since 2002 as criminal chief. Since 1987, Vaudreuil has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, teaching evidence and trial advocacy.

Both private practitioners hail from large firms.

Leffel is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, and is a member of its General Commercial Litigation, Consumer Financial Services and Appellate practices. Prior to joining Foley, Leffel worked for Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington D.C. He also served as a law clerk for Judge Karen Nelson Moore, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Finally, Wilson is a shareholder in the Litigation Department and a member of the White Collar Counseling and Defense Practice Group at Godfrey & Kahn SC. Before that, he was an assistant attorney general at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and he also served as a federal prosecutor in Chicago. Wilson began his legal career with Jenner & Block in Chicago.

The applicants who did not receive the commission’s nod were Michael R. Bauer of Murphy Desmond SC in Madison, Pablo Carranza of Carranza Law Group LLC in Monona, and Ismael R. Ozanne of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Legal Counsel Office in Madison.