I previously blogged that DOJ Tax Alum Brian Schwalb had been elected D.C. Attorney General. Brian Schwalb Elected D.C. Attorney General (11/12/22), here. On January 2, 2023, Brian was sworn in as DC Attorney General. See Press Release here. \
The Press Release has this on his DOJ Tax stint: “After graduating from Duke University and Harvard Law School, and completing a two-year judicial clerkship, Brian served as a trial attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Another item in the press release caught my attention (bold face supplied by JAT):
“As I reflect on how we find answers to these questions of equity, safety and democracy, I think about advice my father gave me. Today – January 2nd – would have been my dad’s 87th birthday. When he left the Justice Department in 1965, many of the law firms in Washington wouldn’t consider hiring him because he was Jewish. I can only imagine how he’d feel seeing his son standing on this stage taking the oath of office as D.C.’s Attorney General. Dad’s advice to me was simple: God gives us two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk. As your independently-elected Attorney General, I will listen to everyone. I will collaborate with anyone who is committed to what is best for the District. But I will be beholden to no one – no one other than the residents who have retained me to represent Washington’s best interests.”
So, I wondered whether his dad was a DOJ Tax Alum. I checked my database of DOJ Tax alums and found that indeed his dad was a DOJ Tax Alum. I have “Burton A. Schwalb” listed as a trial attorney in Refund 3 from 1960 to 1965. At the time he was entered in the database, he was listed as with Schwalb, Donnenfeld, Bray & Silbert, a firm that ceased to exist in 1990s. My database shows that two of the other name partners in that firm -- Jack Bray and Earl Silbert -- were also DOJ Tax Alumni. I could not determine whether Donnenfeld was a DOJ Tax Alum, but given that three of the four name partners were, that is a possibility.
As an aside, old-timers (like me) may remember Earl Silbert who burst into the national scene after his DOJ Tax stint as the D.C. U.S. Attorney prosecutor in the initial Watergate investigation. I met Earl Silbert while I was with DOJ Tax Appellate. By then, Earl was down the hall working for some other DOJ function, I think perhaps Office of Legal Counsel. Earl was working with Carl Rauh (not a DOJ Tax Alum) who became Principal Assistant to Earl as D.C. U.S. Attorney and thereafter a partner in law practice. My recollection is that Earl and Carl were working on D.C.'s "no-knock" legislation when I met them. See Earl's oral history here. While I don't remember the exact content of my discussions with them, I do recall generally that they were both very smart, dedicated, and really class people.
