Longtime Federal Prosecutor For Eastern District Recognized

PHILADELPHIA — Attorney General Merrick B. Garland honored 298 attorneys in the 69th Annual Attorney General’s Awards for extraordinary contributions to the enforcement of our nation’s laws.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer received the Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award, an award honoring employees who have served at least 20 years and have demonstrated high standards of excellence and dedication.

This award is presented only in exceptional circumstances to individuals of special merit. There are 113,114 employees in the federal justice department nationwide.

The eastern district covers Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Berks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Lancaster and Northampton counties.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jacqueline C. Romero said the office is incredibly fortunate to be able to call Zauzmer a colleague and friend.
“His unparalleled contributions to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Department of Justice as an institution are certainly deserving of this recognition, but the award alone does not go far enough in expressing how grateful we all are for his wisdom, integrity and masterful advocacy in the courtroom,” Romero said.

Zauzmer joined the office in March 1990. He has prosecuted an array of federal crimes focusing on corruption and fraud matters He is currently chief of the office’s appeals unit. Zauzmer frequently appears before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

His cases include these noteworthy public corruption matters in Philadelphia:

• The 2005 Philadelphia City Hall corruption case in which the City Treasurer and others were convicted of corrupt conduct in city government affairs;
• The 2009 corruption case against former State Senator Vincent J. Fumo;
• The 2017 prosecution of former District Attorney R. Seth Williams who pleaded guilty during trial to bribery and fraud offenses.

He has also served in a variety of leadership positions with the Department of Justice, including as the national chair of the committee of appellate chiefs from 2012 to 2014 during which he advised the Attorney General on appellate matters, and as the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice from 2016 to 2017 to assist President Obama’s initiative to extend executive clemency to nonviolent drug offenders serving exceptionally long sentences.

Zauzmer has twice received the John Marshall Award, the department highest award for litigation activities:

• In 1992 for the prosecution of a drug organization that terrorized a Philadelphia neighborhood;
• In 2008 for his participation on the team of attorneys which oversaw the response to amendments to the sentencing guidelines for certain drug offenses which required the resentencing for thousands of defendants nationally.