Fisher had no experience as a prosecutor when she first joined the Justice Department in 2001.
She had worked in private practice at Sullivan & Cromwell and Latham & Watkins before moving to government. “What she lacks in prosecutorial experience she makes up in knowledge of the law and an ability to understand the facts of the matter we are dealing with,” then-U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia Paul McNulty said in this 2003 profile of Fisher.
Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary who became a sharp critic of Donald Trump during the election, was her mentor.
Chertoff hired Fisher to work on the Whitewater investigation with him for the U.S. Senate, then she joined Latham & Watkins, where Chertoff was once a partner. (He is now senior of counsel at Covington & Burling.) She became a Latham partner in 2000.
Fisher followed Chertoff to the Justice Department when he became Criminal Division chief in 2001. This 2006 story about Chertoff’s proteges described their professional relationship.
Rooting out corporate fraud, especially related to contractors during the “war on terror, became her mission at Justice while she was Criminal Division chief.
From a 2008 story: “Fisher promoted efforts to ensure integrity in the government, including developing and chairing the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, which has charged, convicted, or brought civil actions in more than 300 cases, including 46 individuals or companies criminally charged in procurement fraud related matters to the global War on Terror.
Fisher’s division brought enforcement actions against 16 individuals or companies under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 2007, a substantial increase from the four individuals or companies charged under FCPA in 2002 or the three charged in 2003 and in 2004. Fisher also oversaw the implementation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Miami, which has secured more than 100 convictions since March 2007.”
