Carol Lam
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Carol Chien-Hua Lam (born June 26, 1959), a former U.S. Attorney (interim) for the Southern District of California. Lam was sworn into office on September 4, 2002. On November 12, 2002, Lam was further sworn in as a presidential appointment. Most prominently, Lam oversaw the Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham military contracting corruption case.
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[edit] Personal
Lam is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sau-Wing Lam of Tenafly, N.J. She married her husband, Mark Steven Burnett, a geophysicist specializing in oceanography, on August 23, 1986.[1]
[edit] Education
Lam received her BA from Yale University with a degree in philosophy. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1985.
[edit] Career
From 1997 to 2000, Lam was the Chief of the Major Fraud Section at the Southern District of California. For the 11 years before that she was Assistant US Attorney at the same office. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Irving R. Kaufman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[2]
Lam was fired by the Bush Administration.[3][4][5][6] The Administration claimed, subsequent to the dismissal,[7]that Lam did not allocate sufficient resources to prosecuting border crimes, echoing US Representative Darrell Issa's (R-CA) complaints.[3]
[edit] U.S. Attorney
[edit] Anti-corruption activity
Lam was active in securing indictments against Central Intelligence Agency official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and contractor Brent Wilkes, both of whom were involved in the Cunningham Scandal.
Lam was actively investigating Republican Congressman Jerry Lewis at the time of her dismissal.[8]
In December 2006, Lam was responsible for obtaining a $4.7 million dollar fine settlement from the Golden State Fence Company of Riverside, CA, for hiring illegal immigrants. The Golden State Fence Company (a.k.a. Fenceworks, inc.), was one of the contractors hired by the U.S. government to build the southern U.S. border fence.[9]
[edit] Firing
| Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy |
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Lam was one of eight attorneys fired in the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy [10]
Many prominent Democrats, including Senators Charles Schumer and Diane Feinstein, allege that Lam's firing was part of a broader vengeful move against prosecutors that have pursued political corruption that damaged Republicans or that were not loyal enough to the Administration.[10]Republican Congressman Darrell Issa has stated that he takes "maybe one-twentieth" of the responsibility for Lam's firing.
Statistics compiled by Lam's office corroborate the assertion that total prosecutions in border crossing cases have declined over Lam's tenure [11].
However, the Justice Department itself defended Lam in an August 23, 2006 letter to Senator Feinstein. They asserted: "The immigration philosophy of the Southern District focuses on deterrence by directing its resources and efforts against the worst immigration offenders and by bringing felony cases against such defendants that will result in longer sentences. For example, although the number of defendants who received prison sentences between 1-12 months fell from 896 in 2004 to 338 in 2005, the number of immigration defendants who received sentences longer than 60 months rose from 21 to 77. Prosecutions for alien smuggling in the Southern District under U.S.C. sec. 1324 are rising sharply in Fiscal Year 2006." [[4]]
In her own defense, Lam echoed the Justice Department's August letter, emphasizing quality prosecutions over sheer quantity. "When you take on more difficult investigations, the number of prosecutions might not be as high, but you have a larger impact on crime in the community."[12]. During her tenure as US Attorney, Lam received both the Director's Award for Superior Performance and the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service.[2]
[edit] Later career
When she left the US Attorney's position in February 2007, she accepted the position of senior vice president and legal counsel for Qualcomm.[2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Carol Lam Wed To Mark Burnett, Ph.D. Candidate", New York Times, August 24, 1986.
- ^ a b c QUALCOMM Appoints Carol C. Lam Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel for Company’s Legal Team (February 15, 2007).
- ^ a b [1] Kelly Thornton and Onell R. Soto, "Job performance said to be behind White House firing," San Diego Union Tribune, January 12, 2007.
- ^ Richard Marosi. U.S. prosecutors quit in San Diego, S.F. LA Times, January 17, 2007
- ^ Dan Eggen. Prosecutor Firings Not Political, Gonzales Says, Washington Post, January 19, 2007; Page A02
- ^ David Johnston. Justice Dept. Names New Prosecutors, Forcing Some Out NY Times, 17 January 2007
- ^ [2]
- ^ The New York Times, Politics and the Corruption Fighter, January 18, 2007.
- ^ San Diego Union Tribune, "Fence Firm Executives Admit Hiring Illegal Immigrants", December 14, 2006
- ^ a b [3] Laurie Kellman, "Senate Republicans block bill to curb Justice power over US attys," Associated Press, February 15, 2007.
- ^ William Finn Bennett. "Issa to testify on Lam firing", North County Times, March 5, 2007.
- ^ Greg Moran, Onell R. Soto. "U.S. attorney went for quality prosecutions over quantity – it may have cost her her job", San Diego Union-Tribune, January 21, 2007.
[edit] External link
Cached:
Carol C. Lam was sworn in as interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of California on September 4, 2002, and was sworn in as the Presidentially-appointed United States Attorney on November 18, 2002.
Prior to her nomination to the position of United States Attorney, Ms. Lam was a judge of the Superior Court in San Diego, where she presided over a criminal trial calendar. From 1986 to 1997, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California and was Chief of the Major Frauds Section from 1997 to 2000. During her previous tenure in the office, Ms. Lam convicted several high-ranking members of the Chicago organized crime family La Cosa Nostra; obtained a guilty plea and a civil settlement of $110 million from National Health Laboratories, Inc. in a Medicare fraud case; and briefed and argued the first appellate case upholding the constitutionality of "roving" wiretaps.
United States Attorney Lam is the recipient of both the Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney, and the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service. She received her B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University in 1981, and graduated from Stanford Law School in 1985. From 1985 to 1986 Ms. Lam was a law clerk to the Honorable Irving R. Kaufman on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
