The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland has hired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett litigation partner Alicia Washington as a special counsel.

Washington returns to the public sector after almost two and a half years at Simpson Thacher having previously served as an assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In her role as special counsel in Maryland, she will advise US Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek Barron on a wide variety of legal matters impacting the office, with a particular focus on the Criminal Division and other complex cases.

During her time in the Eastern District of New York, Washington was involved in investigating and prosecuting public corruption, white collar crime, narcotics, money laundering, civil rights, firearms cases and child exploitation.

Her arrival in Maryland coincides with the promotion of assistant US Attorney John Sippel to a role coordinating the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s Mid-Atlantic region. Sippel has been an assistant US Attorney in Maryland since 2003 when he joined from legacy Baltimore firm Ober Kaler.

Barron said: “The hiring of Alicia Washington and promotion of John Sippel adds greater depth of experience and perspective to our decision-making to better serve Marylanders and the mission of the Department of Justice.”

Before her previous spell in the Eastern District of New York, Washington was an associate at Davis & Gilbert and also had two earlier stints as an associate at Simpson Thacher either side of a year spent clerking to Barbara Lynn in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Prior to starting law school she also spent a year as a paralegal in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division and before that spent three months in London interning for MP and now Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey.

Washington and Sippel join a management team that also includes first assistant US Attorney Phil Selden, executive assistant US Attorney Lillian Stewart and counsel to the US Attorney, David Salem. 

Baltimore, Maryland’s biggest city, is frequently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the US based on crime rates and homicide rates.