Christina E. Nolan

Christina E. Nolan, the former United States Attorney for Vermont, is a principal in the firm.  She focuses on complex civil litigation, defense of government enforcement actions, false claims act defense and enforcement, white collar and serious felony criminal defense, and internal investigations.  Having previously served as a state and federal prosecutor, Christina has tried more than a dozen cases to juries, regularly handled evidentiary hearings before federal and state trial courts, and appeared several times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Christina, a native Vermonter, was employed from 2010 to 2021 at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont (USAO), serving first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division for nearly 8 years, and then leading the office as U.S. Attorney from November 2017 until March 2021.  Following the bipartisan recommendation of Senator Patrick Leahy and Governor Phil Scott, Christina was nominated for the chief law enforcement officer post by the President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As U.S. Attorney, Christina supervised all federal criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions in Vermont, served as chief spokesperson for federal law enforcement and the USAO, and partnered with community leaders and government officials to promote criminal justice policies and launch community-based and law enforcement initiatives.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr selected Christina as one of a dozen U.S. Attorneys to sit on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, which advises the Attorney General on all aspects of criminal and civil policy.  Christina chaired the Advisory Committee’s Controlled Substances Subcommittee (CSS), and was a member of its Health Care Fraud and Domestic Violence Working Groups.  Christina also cochaired the Justice Department’s initiative to combat sexual harassment in housing during the pandemic and helped lead the Attorney General’s effort to implement police reform pursuant to the 2020 Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities.  In her capacity as leader of the CSS, Christina testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee concerning fentanyl enforcement policy and proposed fentanyl legislation.  In Vermont, Christina sat on Governor Scott’s Opioid Coordination, Substance Misuse, and Emergency Preparedness Councils and cochaired the Vermont Human Trafficking Task Force.

As U.S. Attorney, Christina actively supervised a range of criminal and civil cases involving drug trafficking; firearms and violence; human trafficking; organized crime; child exploitation; wire, health care, bank, and securities fraud; embezzlement and money laundering; government contracting fraud; medical malpractice; and federal False Claims Act enforcement.  Under Christina’s leadership, the USAO resolved criminal felony antikickback charges and civil False Claims Act claims against Purdue Pharma L.P. as part of the largest criminal resolution ever reached against a pharmaceutical company; charged the largest fraud case in Vermont history relating to the EB-5/Jay Peak financial scandal in the Northeast Kingdom and obtained a guilty plea from the lead defendant; and secured unprecedented False Claims Act civil and criminal settlements against healthcare companies that garnered national attention.

As a federal prosecutor, Christina investigated and prosecuted financial, narcotics, violent, child exploitation, and other crimes. She tried six federal cases to juries, each trial resulting in conviction.  Among her most notable cases was the prosecution and conviction of Richard Monroe for the drug-related murder of University of Vermont student, Kevin DeOliveira, in Burlington.  Monroe is serving a 25-year sentence.  As Assistant U.S. Attorney, Christina was also tasked with oversight of all opioid trafficking prosecutions and investigations in Eastern Vermont and served as the USAO’s Violent Crime Coordinator.

Before joining the USAO, Christina served as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, where she tried numerous cases to juries and prosecuted a variety of state crimes, including DUI, drug trafficking, firearms, and domestic violence matters.  From 2005 to 2009, Nolan worked as a litigation associate at Goodwin Procter, LLP, a large Boston law firm.  In that role, she represented white collar defendants, conducted internal investigation, supervised complex civil litigation, and played a managerial role in the representation of a corporate executive in a high-profile federal securities fraud prosecution.  The securities fraud case ended in dismissal of charges against the client.

After law school, Christina clerked for The Honorable F. Dennis Saylor, IV of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Christina graduated magna cum laude from Boston College Law School in 2004, where she served a Senior Editor on the Boston College Law Review.  She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in political science and history from the University of Vermont, where she graduated summa cum laude.