Associated Press
April 18, 2009
U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Friday she is stepping down to join a law firm with former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Hanaway said her last day on the job will be Sunday. The new law firm will be called Ashcroft Hanaway.
Ashcroft is a former Missouri auditor, attorney general, two-term governor and U.S. senator, who, after losing re-election in 2000, was appointed as U.S. attorney general by President George W. Bush. He served as the nation’s top Justice Department official from 2001-2005.
Hanaway is a former speaker of the Missouri House who lost a secretary of state’s election in 2004 and was appointed by Bush as U.S. attorney for eastern Missouri in 2005.
U.S. attorneys typically change with a new president, though President Obama had not yet announced a replacement for Hanaway. She said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Reap will take over as acting head of the office on Monday.
Hanaway said the new law firm “will seek to serve clients who have multiple lawyers to their problems. Maybe someone who is sued, has criminal exposure or legislative issues.” Many clients likely will be either in the health care or homeland security industries, she said.
Ashcroft Hanaway will be headquartered in Kansas City, where Ashcroft already has a law office, Hanaway said. But Hanaway will work from St. Louis and Ashcroft from Washington, where he operates a consulting firm called The Ashcroft Group LLC.
A spokesman for The Ashcroft Group did not immediately return a telephone call Friday.
Hanaway said Ashcroft plans a formal announcement about the new law firm Thursday in St. Louis. She said the firm also plans to open offices in other cities.
Although Ashcroft and Hanaway have been intwined for years in Republican politics, Hanaway never previously worked directly with Ashcroft.
Hanaway said Friday he was approached about the new law firm by David Ayers, a friend from college at the University of Missouri-Columbia who now is the chief executive officer of The Ashcroft Group.