HON. Joseph P. Russoniello
United States Attorney for the Northern District of California
Joseph P. Russoniello is currently serving his second term as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California after being appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate in 2007. Mr. Russoniello recently was Senior Counsel and resident in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP where he was a member of the Litigation department and the practice group for Business Crimes & Regulatory Defense. Mr. Russoniello also served as Dean of the San Francisco Law School for five and a half years until his resignation in July 2007.
From 1982 to 1990, Mr. Russoniello served his first term as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. He personally prosecuted Larry Layton of the Peoples Temple for his part in the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana, and tried several other high-profile criminal and civil cases. These included espionage cases as well as dozens of white collar crime cases involving financial institution fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, export control violations, copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting.
Mr. Russoniello received a J.D. degree from New York University Law School in 1966 and a B.S.S. degree from Fairfield University in 1963. Following graduation from NYU, Mr. Russoniello was appointed to the position of special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He later served as an assistant district attorney for the City and County of San Francisco before joining Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in 1975.
Until his recent appointment as United States Attorney, Mr. Russoniello was a member of the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Mr. Russoniello is a member of the American College of Trial lawyers, the Edward McFertridge INN of the American Inns of Court, the American Board of Trial Lawyers, the American Law Institute and numerous civic and legal organizations.