U.S. Attorneys Jay Town, Richard Moore and Donald Cochran to Speak at Friday Symposium at Alabama Law School

TUSCALOOSA – U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town will be among current and former U.S. Attorneys visiting the University of Alabama School of Law on Friday to discuss the role lawyers play in government.

The law school’s symposium, “The Role of Lawyers in Good Government,” will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Room 287 of McMillan Lecture Hall on the University of Alabama campus.

Town will participate with current U.S. Attorneys Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama and Donald Q. Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee in the first of the symposium’s three panels. Former Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, now general counsel for the Retirement Systems of Alabama, will moderate the panel in which members will discuss their role as the chief federal law enforcement official in their respective districts.

“It is an honor to appear alongside my colleagues at the University of Alabama Law School,” Town said. “I think there is great benefit to those learning the law to have former and current United States Attorneys gather to discuss issues in criminal justice. I know I speak for all of us when I thank my predecessor for providing this platform and organizing such a first class symposium.”

Former Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, now a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Law at the UA law school, will moderate the day’s second panel, which will address the role of lawyers as executive agency leaders. Leslie Proll, former director of the Departmental Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Sarah R. Saldana, former director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and David K. Bowsher, a partner with Adams and Reese and former acting general counsel and deputy general counsel at the United States Department of Commerce will comprise the panel.

The third panel will address the role that U.S. Attorneys play in shaping criminal justice policy. Panelists will be Peter F. Neronha, former U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island and a candidate for Rhode Island attorney general, Emily Gray Rice, former New Hampshire U.S. Attorney, now city solicitor for Manchester, N.H., and Greg R. Davis, former Southern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney, now a partner with Goss & Williams. Meg Reiss, executive director, Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, will moderate the panel.

The event is open to the media. For more information, contact Monique Fields at mfields@law.ua.edu or 205-348-5195.

###