Nicholas M. Gess

Prior to joining the firm, Nick served as a member of the US attorney general’s  senior staff and as an associate deputy attorney general (ADAG) at the US Department of Justice. As an ADAG, director of intergovernmental affairs, and counsel, Nick was a senior adviser to Reno and then Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., and he was the Department of Justice official responsible for building and maintaining the administration’s relationships with state and local elected officials, and law enforcement, particularly the state attorneys general. He served as the Justice Department’s primary liaison with the White House Domestic Policy Council, and he has also worked extensively on significant legislative and appropriations matters.

Nick served as an assistant US attorney in Portland, Maine, where he supervised many significant and complicated criminal investigations and tried complex cases in federal court. During his time at the Department of Justice, Nick served as an instructor for the department’s Office of Legal Education and spoke widely on criminal justice topics, including significant on-the-record media appearances  with national, elite, and local media.

Nick was the first Maine prosecutor appointed to head a joint federal-state-local task and also served as an assistant attorney general in the Maine Office of the Attorney General where he prosecuted for complex criminal cases, including homicide and fraud. He also gained administrative experience as general counsel of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Earlier in his career, Nick served as an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County (Portland), Maine, where he tried criminal cases and argued cases on appeal, including before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.