{"id":98821,"date":"2025-12-15T17:13:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/?post_type=news&p=98821"},"modified":"2025-12-16T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:46:10","slug":"client-service-meets-public-service","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/news\/features\/2025\/12\/client-service-meets-public-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Client Service Meets Public Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Raleigh partner Michael Easley<\/a> took over as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2021, federal prosecutors faced unprecedented challenges. The pandemic had set off a surge in violent crime and drug overdose deaths. Cybercrime and money laundering were increasing. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office had to act quickly to combat these threats simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easley employed a skill he honed during his decade as a litigator at McGuireWoods: listening to clients to better understand their circumstances. In this case, that meant meeting with local sheriffs, police chiefs and officials from federal agencies like the FBI, DEA and SEC. Easley then reorganized the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office to address the district\u2019s unique challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMcGuireWoods instilled in me a mentality of client service and a work ethic and drive that great client service requires. In a role like U.S. attorney, your clients are the communities that you serve and the federal agency partners that you work with,\u201d Easley says. \u201cI wanted to deliver for the American taxpayer the kind of lawyering that our clients at McGuireWoods came to expect of us \u2014 and nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easley hired prosecutors to fill priority roles, advocated for more resources for the district and focused on dismantling transnational criminal enterprises. Over the next few years, homicides and violent crime in the district dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Easley built anti-money laundering and white-collar enforcement teams into a more muscular enforcement posture and created ways to track performance in those key areas. White collar criminal prosecutions rose by 115% in a single year, and federal agencies began strategically bringing cases to the Eastern District because of the quality of the teams prosecuting those cases, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe often said what gets measured gets managed, and we wanted to measure our performance and as we did, we saw a whole lot of progress in the reduction of violent crime and the volume of cases that we were able to take in the white collar space,\u201d Easley says. \u201cIt created safer communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Model to Emulate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easley joined McGuireWoods straight out of the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2010, attracted by the firm\u2019s \u201cenergy and youth\u201d and the opportunity to work on sophisticated white collar matters across the country as a junior attorney based in Raleigh. His work included litigation related to some of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easley found several mentors who helped him grow as an attorney and showed him how he could use his experiences to serve the public: Ken Bell<\/a>, a former chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Charlotte and now a federal judge there; and retired partners Doug Ey, the firm\u2019s former general counsel, and former McGuireWoods Chairman Richard Cullen, who served as a U.S. attorney in Virginia and as the commonwealth\u2019s attorney general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRichard\u2019s model of being a lawyer and a leader in his state and his nation was a model that I found attractive because public service has always been something that I\u2019ve been drawn to as well,\u201d Easley says. \u201cThe fact that the firm was so supportive of Richard\u2019s forays in public service showed that a model like that was possible, and it made me want to try to emulate it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a long tradition of public service in Easley\u2019s family. Both of his parents were prosecutors, and his father served as attorney general and then governor of North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Easley expressed interest in pursuing the U.S. attorney role, firm leaders offered enthusiastic support, he says. Cullen and several partners who served in U.S. Senate-confirmed positions \u2014 including John Moran<\/a>, Pat Rowan<\/a> and Ben Hatch<\/a> \u2014 were instrumental in helping Easley prepare for his own confirmation process, he says. Ultimately, Easley emerged as a consensus choice who was nominated by President Joe Biden, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and confirmed by the full Senate without opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Things I Love Are Even Truer Now\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After concluding his tenure as U.S. attorney in February 2025, Easley could have pursued almost any opportunity he liked. He was drawn home to McGuireWoods because of the talent the firm assembled and its relentless focus on practice areas and industry groups that have long been its core pillars, including healthcare<\/a>, life sciences<\/a>, energy<\/a>, financial institutions<\/a> and government investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easley was one of three former U.S. attorneys to join McGuireWoods in 2025, arriving along with partners Ryan Buchanan in Atlanta and Eric Olshan in Pittsburgh. In addition, Easley noted, the firm has built a deep bench by recruiting associates who served in some of the country\u2019s most prestigious judicial clerkships. McGuireWoods\u2019 strategic focus attracts talent, which in turn attracts clients, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn revisiting and getting reacquainted with the firm, it was obvious that all the things I love about McGuireWoods were even truer than when I left,\u201d Easley says. \u201cThe commitment to excellence, the energy of the team, the sophistication of the lawyers and the quality of our client base, all of that is getting better and stronger every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The insights Easley gained as a U.S. attorney complement those strengths. He has a fresh perspective of the regulatory and enforcement landscape, a view sharpened by the demands of high-level public service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat experience changes you. Leading a large team changes you. It draws out of you skills, talents and abilities that are hard to touch in a traditional law practice,\u201d Easley says. \u201cYou emerge from a role like that with a lot more wisdom and perspective than you might see in a similarly experienced lawyer who hasn\u2019t served in a senior role as a regulatory or enforcement lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Raleigh partner Michael Easley took over as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2021, federal prosecutors faced unprecedented challenges. The pandemic had set off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tags":[],"industry_tax":[58,44,42,36],"international_tax":[],"location_tax":[],"media_role":[],"news_type":[3266],"people_tax":[3749],"practice_tax":[127,133,188],"site_tax":[2],"class_list":["post-98821","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_type-features","practice_tax-bsa-aml-counseling-defense","practice_tax-state-ag-investigations","practice_tax-government-investigations-white-collar-litigation"],"acf":[],"links_out":[{"id":81431,"title":"Michael F. Easley, Jr.","url":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/people\/e\/michael-f-easley\/","published":"2025-03-14 11:04:46","blog_id":2},{"id":1265,"title":"John S. Moran","url":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/people\/m\/john-s-moran\/","published":"2021-01-21 20:41:28","blog_id":2},{"id":669,"title":"J. Patrick Rowan","url":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/people\/r\/j-patrick-rowan\/","published":"2018-07-22 07:05:39","blog_id":2},{"id":413,"title":"Benjamin L. Hatch","url":"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/people\/h\/benjamin-l-hatch\/","published":"2018-07-22 06:46:03","blog_id":2}],"links_in":[],"yoast_head":"\nClient Service Meets Public Service - McGuireWoods<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcguirewoods.com\/news\/features\/2025\/12\/client-service-meets-public-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Client Service Meets Public Service - McGuireWoods\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Raleigh partner Michael Easley took over as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2021, federal prosecutors faced unprecedented challenges. 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