Jacobs shows versatility, commitment in her career

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It’s no surprise that the new acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Michelle L. Jacobs, tackles sprint triathlons in her free time. After all, her professional accomplishments have duly prepared her for a sporting event that requires so much versatility and commitment.

Jacobs manages the daily operations of a large staff of busy attorneys; she tries her own cases; and she maintains an active practice before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
She became an assistant U.S. attorney in Milwaukee in 1994. (Her husband is Matthew L. Jacobs, another assistant U.S. attorney whom she met on the job.)

Since then, she’s worked her way up to the top spot by successfully handling “large-scale drug and gang cases,” in addition to two weighty export fraud cases and the investigation of a local politician.

The first was the 1999 prosecution of Siraj International in Oak Creek, its president, Jami Choudhury, and its vice-president, Randy Reyes, for selling F-16 fighter jet parts to a Swiss company. They, in turn, sold the parts to Iran, in violation of the trade embargo.

Reyes’ case went to trial and he was found guilty.

In 2005, Jacobs and her colleague, Erica N. O’Neil, successfully prosecuted Ning Wen, his wife, Hailin Lin, and two Chinese nationals for conspiracy to export restricted electronics — computer chips — to the Chinese military.

Jacobs oversaw the wiretap in the 2007 investigation of former Milwaukee alderman Michael McGee Jr., who was ultimately indicted and convicted at trial.

The one constant job duty she’s had throughout her tenure has been her appellate practice. On the day of this interview, she was working on the brief in U.S. v. Larsen, a case that made national headlines. David Larsen was convicted for the 2004 beating and abduction of his ex-wife. He took her across state lines and then left her in a storage facility in the middle of winter.

Another constant for most of her professional career has been her membership of the board of directors of the U.W. Law School’s Frank J. Remington Center, the umbrella group overseeing the school’s clinical programs.

“The LAIP program is sort of where I got my start,” says Jacobs. “I think it’s extremely important for U.W. Law School to ensure that students have access to these types of opportunities, which allow them to gain valuable experience, and get a taste of public service.”

“The hope is that these kind of programs will touch students, in the way they touched me, because I find public service tremendously rewarding.”

Jacobs isn’t applying for the U.S. attorney’s position permanently, but will do the job until President Obama selects, and the Senate confirms, a permanent replacement for her former boss, Steven Biskupic.

— Jane Pribek