07142017 - News Article - UPDATE: Schererville's Kirsch named new U.S. Attorney

UPDATE: Schererville's Kirsch named new U.S. Attorney
NWI Times
Jul 14, 2017
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/schererville-s-kirsch-named-as-new-u-s-attorney/article_a918f0b8-de46-5165-aa04-6eeb6ba6d9ca.html

HAMMOND — President Donald Trump has nominated a Schererville man to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana.

Republican U.S. Sen. Todd Young congratulated Thomas L. Kirsch II, of Schererville, who will oversee criminal prosecutions for the U.S. District offices of Hammond, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Lafayette. The U.S. District of Northern Indiana comprises 32 counties.

Kirsch will replace Clifford Johnson, who has served as acting U.S. Attorney since David Capp's departure in March. His nomination is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Kirsch is currently a partner with the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP, where his practice focuses on litigation and investigations.

Kirsch served as an assistant U.S. Attorney here from 2001 to 2008. He received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 1996 in economics and political science, with honors, and a law degree from Harvard University.

Kirsch currently is defense lawyer for Portage Mayor James Snyder, who on Nov. 16 was indicted on charges he solicited money from a local businessman to put him on the city's towing list. Snyder is a Republican in his second term as mayor of the largest city in Porter County. His federal corruption and bribery trial has been pushed back to January.

Neither Snyder nor Kirsch, who was out of his law office Friday afternoon, could be reached for comment.

Young today praised the nomination of what he termed an extraordinarily qualified Hoosier.

"Tom has a great legal mind and is a fearless litigator who has shown a willingness to take on powerful interests. I have no doubt he will continue the laudable work done by David Capp over the last decade," Young said.

Capp said Friday, "I think it's an excellent choice. Tom is a very experienced litigator. I worked hand in hand with him for about seven years. He has great judgment. I never hesitated to assign him our most complex case whether it was violent crime or public corruption.

"Tom will be well-received by everyone in the U.S. Attorney's office, law enforcement, the judiciary, the defense bar. He is a great choice," Capp said.

The biography on the law office's website states he focused as an assistant U.S. Attorney here on white collar investigations and prosecutions, including the prosecution of numerous elected and appointed public officials.

He also handled complex high-profile white collar investigations, prosecuted many jury trials, and briefed and argued numerous appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals.

He has prosecuted offenses in numerous areas including: mail and wire fraud; honest services fraud; tax fraud; bank fraud; health care fraud; conspiracy; extortion; money laundering; racketeering; obstruction of justice; perjury; and gangs and narcotics.

For one year, Kirsch also served as counsel to the assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy. While in Washington, D.C., he assisted in developing legislative and policy proposals in corporate crime, violent crime and counter-terrorism.