Barbara Lynn McQuade (born December 22, 1964) is an American lawyer who served as the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017. As part of President Donald Trump's

2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys On March 10, 2017, Jeff Sessions, who was appointed United States attorney general by President Donald Trump, requested the resignations of 46 United States attorneys. Some resignations were declined by Sessions or Trump. Media outlets described ...

, she stepped down in March 2017. She is a professor of law at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

and a legal analyst for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

Early life and education

McQuade was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. She received her undergraduate degree in 1987 from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and her J.D. in 1991 from the

Career

Before joining the U.S. Attorney's office, McQuade practiced law at the firm of

Butzel Long Founded in 1854, Butzel Long is one of the oldest law firms in Michigan. Based in Detroit, Michigan, the firm has 155 attorneys throughout the state, in New York City, and in Washington, D.C. It has alliance offices in Mexico and China. Butzel Lon ...

in Detroit and served as a law clerk for Hon. Bernard A. Friedman on the

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the United States district court, federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State o ...

. McQuade started her career as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan from 1998 until becoming U.S. Attorney in that same district. She was also a professor of law at

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law is the law school of the University of Detroit Mercy and is located in Downtown Detroit, Michigan across from the Renaissance Center. Founded in 1912, Detroit Mercy Law is a private Roman Catholic law ...

from 2003 to 2009. McQuade was appointed by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

and started her term as U.S. Attorney on January 4, 2010. Upon taking office in January 2010, McQuade restructured the office for the first time in more than 35 years to align attorney resources with the priorities of the district: national security, violent crime, public corruption, civil rights and financial fraud, mortgage fraud, health care fraud, and environmental crimes. During McQuade's tenure as U.S. Attorney, the office reached convictions in several high-profile cases, including the case of former Detroit Mayor

Kwame Kilpatrick Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 9th district in the Michigan House of Repres ...

on public corruption charges; the conviction and life sentence of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be al-Qaeda bomber behind the

2009 Christmas Day bomb plot The attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 occurred on December 25, 2009, aboard an Airbus A330 as it prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam. Attributed to the terrori ...

to destroy an airplane in flight from the Netherlands to

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport , usually called Detroit Metro Airport, Metro Airport, or simply DTW, is a major international airport in the United States covering effective December 30, 2021. in Romulus, Michigan. It is the primary ...

; the conviction of a former

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the sta ...

justice on bank fraud charges; and the convictions of former employees for stealing

trade secrets Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily a ...

from Detroit automakers. McQuade also joined with other law enforcement leaders to launch Detroit One, a violence reduction strategy and community partnership. McQuade served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee and was the co-chair of the Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee. She also served on subcommittees addressing civil rights and border security. She was the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She served as deputy chief of the National Security Unit, where she prosecuted cases involving

terrorism financing Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering la ...

, foreign agents, export violations, and threats. During her career as a federal prosecutor, McQuade prosecuted cases involving violent crime, fraud, and racketeering. She helped expose Detroit-area cancer specialist Farid Fata as the mastermind of one of the largest health care frauds in American history. Fata pleaded guilty to his crimes in 2015 and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. In 2017, McQuade became a regular contributor to MSNBC, initially commenting primarily on purported scandals related to President Donald Trump, though the range of topics she analyzes has become broader over time. Since 2021, she also co-hosts the #SistersInLaw podcast with

Jill Wine-Banks Jill Wine-Banks (born May 5, 1943 as Jill Susan Wine

, Joyce Vance and Kimberly Atkins Stohr.

Awards and recognition

McQuade has been recognized by the

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

with the Neal Shine Award for Exemplary Regional Leadership,

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

with the Michiganian of the Year Award, Crain's Detroit Business as a Newsmaker of the Year and one of Detroit's Most Influential Women, and the Detroit Branch NAACP and Arab American Civil Rights League with their Tribute to Justice Award.

References

External links

US Attorney's office bioMain Justice article on McQuade
{{DEFAULTSORT:McQuade, Barbara L. 1964 births United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Michigan University of Michigan Law School alumni University of Detroit Mercy faculty Living people 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Lawyers from Detroit MSNBC people

Early life and education

Career

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links