Brandon D. Fox

Fox joined Jenner & Block in May after serving as chief of the public corruption and civil rights section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District. There, he led the historic investigation of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department which led to the successful prosecution of Sheriff Leroy Baca and 20 other law enforcement officers for obstruction of justice, corruption and civil rights violations.

The move was part of the firm’s effort to strengthen the West Coast presence of its investigations, compliance and defense practice group. Fox came to Jenner after a 13-year stint as an assistant U.S. attorney. He said he considers the Baca prosecution the epitome of his career at the office.

“I had accomplished so much in the federal government, more than I ever thought that I would,” he said. “And it just seemed to be the great capstone of my career and a time to move on and do something new.”

The Baca prosecution was a long-running drama that culminated in a three-year prison sentence for the former lawman for his role in a scheme to obstruct a federal investigation into abuses and corruption at the sprawling sheriff’s department. Baca remains out of prison, at least temporarily, during an appeal announced in early September in which he is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. U.S. v. Baca, 2:16-cr-00066 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 10, 2016).

Fox put the case, in retrospect, in matter-of-fact terms: “We saw a problem and we dealt with it. The leaders of the department felt they were above the law. Cases like this let the public see how and why civil rights abuses have been going on.”

As pretrial litigation intensified in September 2016, Baca and his lawyers moved to disqualify Fox and even U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, who had rejected an initial six-month plea agreement. Fox had to go, the defense contended, because Fox was the one asking Baca questions in a room full of federal investigators in a 2013 deposition — the interview at which Baca was accused of having made false statements.

The defense said it planned to call Fox as a witness at the trial. To allow Fox to argue to jurors that Baca gave false answers to questions he asked would be to allow the prosecutor to become an unsworn witness, the defense argument went.

The motion was denied. “I took it as probably the highest compliment you can get as a trial lawyer,” Fox said.

— John Roemer