Tom Strickland - Law Career

Law Career

Strickland's most notable cases include the prosecution of 25 people associated with a major cocaine distribution ring outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., the indictment of 42 people associated with a motorcycle gang, and the indictment of representatives from three drug running organizations in one of the largest drug roundups in the state's history. In 2000, he prosecuted of the largest drug bust in Longmont's history, an investigation that grew to include California and Nebraska and involved the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's office, the Federal Housing Authority and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Strickland also levied 37 felony counts of selling large quantities of guns to criminals against Gregory Golyansky, his brother Leonid and their employee and cousin, Dmitry Baravik, in a politically charged trial that ended in a plea bargain with a sentence of just one day of probation and a lifetime ban on selling firearms. While critics charged that Strickland targeted the Golyanskys because of their Republican leanings, John Suthers, Strickland's replacement and a Republican, reviewed the case and decided to continue prosecuting despite alleged problems with the case. As Suthers explained, "You've got to rely on hard-core criminals as witnesses. The girlfriends of hard-core criminals are not exactly spectacular witnesses either." In addition, Strickland went after human traffickers as demonstrated by his commitment to prosecuting three people in charges of transporting illegal immigrants after a van crash in northeast Colorado that killed six men. The victims were packed into a van with 14 other passengers who also sustained injuries when a tractor trailer ran into the back of the van.

After almost two years on the job, Strickland left office after acquiring "a reputation as a tough, effective law-and-order prosecutor," according to an editorial appearing in the Denver Post just prior to the end of Strickland's tenure as U.S. Attorney. Strickland joined the Hogan & Hartson law firm, serving as Managing Partner for the firm's Colorado offices. He was also a member of Hogan & Hartson's executive committee. On April 24, 2007, he was appointed executive vice president and chief legal officer of UnitedHealth Group, a diversified health and well-being company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and serving more than 70 million individuals nationwide. On January 21, 2009, it was announced that Strickland had accepted an appointment to serve in President Barack Obama's administration as the chief of staff in the Department of the Interior.