Groom Named Acting U.S. Attorney for District

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.