The Honorable Robert A. Salerno
Bio
Robert A. Salerno was nominated by President Barack Obama in September 2014 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2015.
Judge Salerno was born in Newark, New Jersey. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, from Brown University in 1983, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia in 1990.
Between college and law school, Judge Salerno served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, where he worked on potable water and sanitation projects in rural Andean villages.
Before his nomination, Judge Salerno practiced law in the District of Columbia for 24 years – in law firms large and small. He started at the litigation firm of Schwalb Donnenfeld Bray & Silbert. Eight years later, he and several of his colleagues moved to the firm that became known as DLA Piper, where he remained for 8 years. He then spent 9 years at the Washington, D.C. Office of Morrison & Foerster, where he served for several years as the pro bono partner. His final stint in private practice was at Schulte Roth & Zabel, where he practiced for 10 months prior to his confirmation by the Senate.
During his time in private practice, Judge Salerno had a varied civil litigation and criminal practice, appearing in federal and state courts across the country. His civil litigation practice included matters such as civil rights, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, legal malpractice, civil RICO, consumer protection, False Claims Act, real property, insurance coverage and indemnification disputes. His criminal practice focused on federal “white collar” crimes such as mail fraud, wire fraud, government contracting fraud, healthcare fraud, campaign finance, bribery and corruption.
In addition to representing clients in litigation and government investigations, he counseled companies on how to comply with federal laws, particularly those addressing bribery and health care fraud, and conducted internal investigations into alleged violations of those laws. He was named as a leading lawyer in publications such as Chambers, Benchmark Litigation, LMG Life Sciences, and Super Lawyers, and was recognized by the D.C. Bar and the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights for his pro bono contributions.
From 2008 through 2014, Judge Salerno served as a Hearing Committee member and then as a Hearing Committee chair for the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility. In that capacity, he conducted evidentiary hearings on formal charges of professional misconduct by members of the District of Columbia Bar.
Judge Salerno has served on felony and misdemeanor calendars in the Criminal Division and on domestic relations and juvenile calendars in the Family Division.