FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OPA

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2006 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Justice Department Announces

Appointment of
Rachel K. Paulose as United States
Attorney for the District of Minnesota
James E. Lackner Selected as First Assistant United
States Attorney
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced the appointment
of Rachel K. Paulose to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of
Minnesota. Ms. Paulose will serve under an Attorney General Appointment. She
will succeed Thomas B. Heffelfinger, who will resign from the position on February
28, 2006.

Ms. Paulose currently serves as Senior Counsel to Acting Deputy Attorney General
Paul J. McNulty, and she is also the Department’s Special Counsel for Health Care
Fraud. In this capacity, Paulose handles a broad array of matters, including the
Department’s criminal litigation, corporate fraud enforcement, and policy matters.
Paulose is a former prosecutor who served as an Assistant United States Attorney
for the District of Minnesota from 1999–2002, where she prosecuted both criminal
and civil cases for the federal government, including violent crime, health care
fraud, and white collar crime. Paulose previously served in the Justice Department
as an Attorney General’s Honors Program trial attorney for the Civil Rights
Division. Paulose also worked in private practice from 2002–2006. Paulose began
her legal career in Minneapolis as a law clerk to the Honorable James B. Loken,
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, from
1997–1998.

Ms. Paulose obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Coker
Fellow. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, where
she was Phi Beta Kappa and a Truman Scholar.

Ms. Paulose serves on the board of the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar
Association, where she has held a variety of local and national leadership posts,
including her current service as the Vice President for the Eighth Circuit. She also
served on the Board of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Asian-Pacific Bar
Association and is active in the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

The Justice Department also selected James E. Lackner to serve as the First
Assistant United States Attorney. Mr. Lackner has worked as federal prosecutor for
more than 22 years in the District of Minnesota, and has more than 17 years of
experience in criminal prosecution. Mr. Lackner currently serves as the Chief of the
Criminal Division, and previously held the position of Senior Litigation Counsel.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice in 1983, Mr. Lackner worked for four
years in the Minnesota Attorney General’s office from 1979–1983 and for one year
at a law firm, Aaron, Aaron, Schimberg and Hess. Mr. Lackner obtained his law
degree from Northwestern University Law School, and graduated summa cum laude
from Macalester College in St. Paul.

###

06-087