André Birotte Jr. recounts career path during lunchtime visit
By Lori Craig
Amid juggling all the job duties of United States Attorney for the Central District of California, André Birotte Jr., never forgets the higher charge of the office: To represent the United States.
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| U.S. Attorney André Birottte Jr. |
“It’s an enormous responsibility,” Birotte told USC Gould School of Law students during a recent lunchtime visit. “I try to impart that on every [assistant U.S. Attorney] that I’ve hired. I tell them, ‘You come into this job with a reservoir of trust and good faith; your job is to keep that reservoir full. … The only way to do that is to do the right thing, the right way, all the time.’”
The head prosecutor for the most populous federal judicial district, Birotte said his job is not to win cases but to obtain justice.
“And justice may mean dismissing the case,” Birotte said, “if you don’t have the evidence. That’s why it’s incumbent to have people from all walks of life in all of these positions — public defenders, prosecutors, judges — because we [each] bring something to the table.”
Birotte oversees about 260 lawyers. Two hundred work in the criminal division, pursuing terrorists, gang members, drug traffickers, and child pornographers, among others. Ten lawyers in the tax division prosecute tax frauds and scam artists, and 50 in the civil division enforce federal civil rights laws including the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Voting Rights Act.
National security remains the office’s “No. 1 priority,” Birotte said, noting the Nov. 1 shooting of Transportation Security Administration Agent Gerardo Hernandez.
“That section, I think, is really the unsung heroes of our office,” Birotte said. “If they’re doing their job right, you all are not going to know about it, because they use techniques to dismantle and interrupt various organizations throughout the country.”
Birotte visited USC Gould at the invitation of the Government Law Organization, speaking with students about his work and career path, and offering advice based on his experiences.
The best thing law students can do for their careers is find mentors, Birotte said. Develop relationships with lawyers when working at a firm or other summer job, and maintain those connections for help navigating career decisions.
“In a big city like this, the people that you meet will be phenomenal lawyers who will help guide you, give you advice on what to do, what not to do in every walk of life … it is vitally essential,” he said.
Birotte would not be where he is today were it not for the mentors he’s had along the way, he said. After the New Jersey native graduated from Tufts University, he moved across the country in 1988 to attend Pepperdine Law School in a state where he didn’t know anyone. He became acquainted with a criminal defense lawyer who, upon learning Birotte was interested in criminal law, connected him with the Hon. John Meigs. Meigs has been Birotte’s mentor ever since.
During law school, Birotte worked at the offices of the public defender and U.S. Attorney as an extern — another career move he highly recommended to students.
“The externship is a free look: You get an opportunity to see an area of law that you’re thinking about,” he said. “I would not be in the U.S. Attorney’s office but not for my externship.”
After law school, he worked as a public defender before becoming an assistant U.S. Attorney three years later. Birotte “loved” being a public defender, and he thinks the experience informs his actions from the other side of the table.
“I know what it’s like to talk to a client, and the struggles they have, and the impact it has [to] tell them, ‘[If] you plead guilty, you’re going to jail,’” Birotte said. “I’d like to think that makes me a better prosecutor, perhaps one that has more life experience, understanding the challenges the defender has to convince their client to plead guilty, or the reasons why they may decide to go to trial, even though from the government’s perspective and the D.A.’s perspective, you look at the evidence and say, ‘This guy’s clearly guilty.’”
Following a two-year stint in private practice with Quinn Emmanuel — a great experience, he said, but “it just wasn’t for me — Birotte joined the Los Angeles Police Department’s Office of the Inspector General as assistant and then inspector general.
“That was a fascinating job as well,” Birotte said. “I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do a lot of different things that are so exciting. Overseeing the second-largest police department in the country, you name the issues, we had them.”
Having been appointed U.S. Attorney in 2010, Birotte today spends much of his time staying updated and making filing decisions on the many cases being handled by the lawyers in his office. He gets briefed by section heads on a monthly or quarterly basis, asking them to discuss their top five cases and abide by the “Wheaties rule” Birotte learned as an assistant U.S. Attorney.
“I just don’t want to choke on my Wheaties in the morning when I’m reading the paper and see a headline about a case,” he said.
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