Former U.S. Attorney Donald W. Washington, who served his last day in office Monday, has joined the law firm of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre.

Washington will practice from the firm’s Lafayette office, according to a release issued by the firm Tuesday.

Washington will focus on complex civil litigation, federal and state criminal investigations, regulatory enforcement actions and internal investigations and compliance programs in such industries as health care, maritime and energy, the release stated.

President George W. Bush appointed Washington to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana in September 2001.

Washington announced his resignation Jan. 7. First assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Flanagan is serving as acting U.S. Attorney until a replacement is named.

NAME — Kenneth R. Feinberg.

AGE — 63, born Oct. 23, 1945, in Brockton, Mass.

EXPERIENCE — Obama administration "pay czar" for financial bailout program, June 2009 to present. He is serving without pay, as he did as special master of Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001; founded the Feinberg Group LLP, law firm specializing in mediation, in 1993; partner at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler law firm, where he began mediating conflicts, 1980-93; administrative assistant to Sen. Edward Kennedy, 1977-79; special counsel to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 1975-80; assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District of New York, 1972-75; law clerk for Chief Judge Stanley H. Fuld, New York State Court of Appeals, 1970-1972.

EDUCATION — Bachelor's in history, University of Massachusetts, 1967; law degree, New York University School of Law, 1970.

FAMILY — Wife, Diane Shiff; three children.

QUOTE — "My grandmother in Lithuania would be a little shocked. I'm no czar issuing imperial compensation edicts. We have been working daily to come up with actual dollars that can be endorsed by these seven" companies.

The former chief of staff for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has opened a Reno office for a national law firm.

Josh Hicks will work for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The firm's work includes lobbying federal, state and local governments. It is expanding its government relations group.

Hicks left his post as Gibbons' chief of staff this summer. He had also served earlier as the governor's legal counsel.

Hicks will focus on public policy, administrative law, Nevada tax law and election law.

The firm made the announcement on Monday.

Former U.S. Attorney for Nevada Gregory Brower is joining a law firm with offices in Las Vegas.

Snell & Wilmer LLP said Monday Brower will be a partner at the firm, which has more than 400 attorneys practicing in eight offices, including Los Cabos in Mexico.

Brower was Nevada's U.S. attorney for nearly two years and announced plans to step down last month.

He will be replaced by Daniel Bogden, who served as U.S. attorney for Nevada from 2001 to 2007 before becoming one of nine federal prosecutors told to resign by senior Bush administration Justice Department officials.

Brower is a Republican former state assemblyman and general counsel to the federal Government Printing Office.

The firm says Brower will focus on civil litigation, corporate compliance matters and administrative law issues, among other things.

Law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell recruited the Securities and Exchange Commission's former enforcement chief and another former high-level government lawyer to join its white-collar defense group, part of an effort to expand its Washington practice.

Linda Chatman Thomsen, who left the SEC earlier this year, and Raul Yanes, former staff secretary to President George W. Bush, are joining the law firm as partners.

Both had worked at Davis Polk in New York before joining the government.

The duo will be the first litigators in the 11-person Washington office in years.

Former SEC Commissioner Annette Nazareth and Robert Colby, a former deputy director of the SEC's trading and markets division, also recently joined the firm's Washington office to focus on financial regulatory issues.

Davis Polk clients, including large financial institutions, are closely entangled with the government as it has pumped billions of dollars into financial rescue plans. Congress is studying new regulation of financial markets.

The White House said Hamilton, from Indiana, will serve on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals covering his state, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Hamilton served as counsel to Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh when he was governor. He is a federal judge in Indianapolis.

A senior administration official, who would only speak on condition of anonymity to discuss the nomination, said Indiana's Republican senator, Richard Lugar, told the White House he supports Hamilton.

The official said Obama is looking for nominees who will overcome partisan Senate acrimony of the past. Some nominees have bitterly divided the Senate, no matter which party was in the majority or controlled the White House.

The administration also is looking at candidates for any future Supreme Court vacancy, but the official described that search simply an effort to be prepared.

There are 11 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals that cover specific regions, and the circuit for the District of Columbia. There currently are 15 vacancies, including the seat to be filled by Hamilton.

Since most cases do not reach the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appellate decisions often are the final word on legal matters that affect millions of Americans — from civil liberties and civil rights, to abortion and challenges to government actions.