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Chicago's former US attorney will open King & Spalding office

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Zachary Fardon

Zachary Fardon. Photo courtesy of King & Spalding.

Zachary Fardon—who was asked asked to resign as the Northern District of Illinois U.S.attorney was by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in March—has rejoined King & Spalding, and will open a Chicago office for the firm in September.

He will serve as the office’s managing partner and head of litigation, according to a press release from the law firm.

Fardon, a Vanderbilt University Law School graduate, joined King & Spalding Washington, D.C., office in 1992, before taking a state public defender job in Nashville. That was followed with an assistant US attorney position in Chicago, which he left in 2007, to join Latham & Watkins.

Fardon was appointed as Chicago’s US attorney in 2013, and one of 46 Obama appointees who Attorney General Jeff Sessions requested immediate resignations from in March. In his 2017 resignation letter, Fardon called on the Justice Department to implement a consent decree negotiated with the police department, and focus on social media when prosecuting gang members.

Fardon was one of the lawyers who prosecuted former Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Scott Fawell, Ryan’s former chief of staff. Both cases resulted in corruption convictions.

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