US Attorney's Office in Chicago experiencing unprecedented leadership exodus, legal community says

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some in Chicago's legal community told the ABC7 I-Team the U.S. Attorney's Office is bleeding talent.

At least seven top prosecutors are part of an unprecedented leadership exodus from the Northern District of Illinois this year.

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Experts say the institutional knowledge from these veteran attorneys will be tough to replace.

"I don't think we've ever seen in this office this many departures at that level in such a short period of time. I do believe it is unprecedented," ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said.

Prosecutors are assigned to one of eight sections in the criminal division. The chiefs lead those sections.

This year, five section chiefs have resigned or announced their resignation from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago. They include Sarah Streicker, Amarjeet Bhachu, Steve Dollear, Brian Kerwin and Scott Edenfield. Erika Csicsila left after serving as the chief of the entire criminal division. Barry Jonas, a top national security prosecutor, is no longer at the office either.

"It's going to be a real challenge for the office. Like many organizations, the office has a pyramid structure to it. U.S. Attorney at the top, line prosecutors at the bottom, supervisors, chiefs, managers in the middle. You can lose one or two of those supervisors over time and not have too much disruption. If you lose too many all at once, it's much harder to replace that subject matter expertise and that management experience," Soffer told the I-Team.

Soffer was a federal prosecutor in the Chicago office for six years.

"It's almost always the case that a new U.S. Attorney will have a new first assistant as top lieutenant, so that's someone who certainly will change over with administrations. But it's also common that people below that level at the chief level... those tend to be people who are in those positions longer term, and that's why it's so unusual to see so many departures at that level now in so short a period of time," Soffer said.

In February, the Northern District of Illinois told the I-Team they had 144 prosecutors.

Andrew Boutros was sworn in as U.S. Attorney in April on an interim basis and was later officially appointed to role. Under his leadership, the office continues to shrink. In July, they were down to 126 prosecutors.

In August, an unorthodox recruiting email was sent on behalf of U.S. Attorney Boutros, inviting former prosecutors to return to the office.

"That was in a way, anticipating this, whether by design or otherwise. But you know, you can see there an effort to fill positions with experienced formers," Soffer said.

Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office says it is down to 125 prosecutors. But they say their indictments this year are up 45% compared to the same time period last year.

Many former prosecutors told the I-Team they are concerned about the leadership brain drain happening at the office.

"It's a big percentage. No matter how you slice it, five departures at the chief level, at the U.S. Attorney's Office, is a big percentage," Soffer said.

U.S. Attorney Boutros said in a press release Friday he is hiring several dozen new Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the criminal and civil divisions in the coming months. He is also touting an increase in federal firearm indictments and prosecutions this year, saying his office has achieved "impressive results" with far fewer prosecutors and resources.