Richard W. Westling serves as the First Assistant United States Attorney.  Between 2008 and 2014, Mr. Westling was a partner in Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, LLP, in Nashville, TN, and a shareholder in Ober|Kaler, in Washington, D.C.  At both firms, he represented clients in health care fraud cases and a variety of other government enforcement matters.  Previously, Mr. Westling served as general counsel of a Louisiana-based physician-hospital organization which administered a Medicare Advantage HMO Plan with more than 35,000 members.  From 1997-2006, he practiced with the Law Offices of Richard W. Westling, LLC in New Orleans, where he defended complex federal criminal matters involving allegations of public corruption, health care fraud, mail and wire fraud, tax and environmental crimes and narcotics violations.  He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1992 until 1997, prosecuting a variety of white collar crimes and serving as the Asset Forfeiture Chief for three years.  From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Westling was trial attorney and special assistant to the Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C.  He graduated with honors from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and cum laude from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Tulane Law Review.

Sharon D. Smith serves as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney.  Ms. Smith joined the United States Attorney’s office in October 2002 as an Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the Civil Division where, until November 2013, she specialized in prosecuting Affirmative Civil Enforcement cases.  In 2004, she was appointed as a unit supervisor overseeing attorneys handling a variety of civil affirmative and defensive cases, including drug diversion, torts, bankruptcy, immigration, land condemnation, FOIA and Title VII.  In 2005, she was also appointed the district’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Coordinator and Civil Health Care Fraud Coordinator.  While in the Civil Division, Ms. Smith received the Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention and the Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General Cooperative Achievement Award in 2007 and the Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Integrity Award in 2008.  In November 2013, Ms. Smith became the office’s Deputy Executive Assistant U. S. Attorney until her promotion to her current position on May 1, 2014.  Prior to her employment with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Smith was a partner at Pulaski, Gieger and Laborde in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she practiced civil defense litigation for 17 years.  She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1980 and from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert School of Law in 1985. 

Duane A. Evans serves as the Chief of the Criminal Division.  He joined the United States Attorney’s Office in August 2000 as an Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the Criminal Division.  During his tenure in the Firearms/Violent Crimes Unit, he specialized in prosecuting matters related to firearms, narcotics, and violent crime.  In 2006, he became the Supervisor for the Violent Crimes/Project Safe Neighborhoods Unit.  In 2010, he became Chief of the Strike Force and Anti-Gang Unit.  Beginning in June 2012, he served as Senior Litigation Counsel until his promotion to the position of Criminal Chief.  After graduating from Tulane University School of Engineering and Loyola University College of Law, Mr. Evans served a judicial clerkship for Virgin Islands Superior Court Judge Ishmael A. Meyers from 1995-1997.  He later worked as an Assistant District Attorney for the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office.  He is a native of St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.

Peter M. Mansfield serves as Chief of the Civil Division. Prior to his current position, Mr. Mansfield served as Deputy Chief of the Civil Division since 2008. Since 2007, Mr. Mansfield also has supervised the office’s Financial Litigation Unit which is responsible for the enforcement and collection of criminal fines, restitution, and civil judgments in the district. As a supervisory AUSA, Mr. Mansfield has been the lead editor and reviewer of the office’s civil appeals in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals since 2011.  Mr. Mansfield joined the United States Attorney’s Office in 2005 and has handled both defensive and affirmative civil cases in district and appellate courts as lead counsel. After graduating from Franciscan University and Ave Maria School of Law, both magna cum laude, Mr. Mansfield began his legal career as a litigation associate at Adams and Reese, L.L.P. in its New Orleans office. Mr. Mansfield is a native of Metairie, Louisiana.

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