Groom Named Acting U.S. Attorney for District

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 144 views 

Career prosecutor Deborah Groom, as first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, has been elevated to acting U.S. Attorney, filing the role vacated Jan. 4 by Robert C. Balfe.

Groom, 57, has been first assistant under Balfe since March 2007. She has been a federal prosecutor since 1983 and was named chief of the civil division in 1993.

Groom, who lives in Greenland, is a 1978 graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law. She was a deputy prosecuting attorney in the state’s 12th Judicial District before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Balfe announced his resignation effective on Dec. 8.

Balfe joined Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodyard of Little Rock on Jan. 5 to lead its new government investigations, enforcement and white collar crime team. The firm has a Rogers office.

The firm said the practice will focus on white collar crime, government and internal corporate investigations, immigration, fraud, false claims and commercial litigation.