John D. Kirby — Publisher
John David Kirby graduated magna cum laude from USC and cum laude from Cornell Law School, then spent more than a decade in the United States Attorney's Office before turning to defense work. He publishes this reference desk so readers can study federal criminal practice from primary sources.
- University of Southern California — B.A., magna cum laude
- Cornell Law School — J.D., cum laude
A career built on both sides of the courtroom.
John D. Kirby graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California and cum laude from Cornell Law School. He began his legal career at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, where he worked on high-profile commercial cases.
He went on to serve more than a decade in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, handling serious criminal investigations and prosecutions. He is a former U.S. federal prosecutor; the research desk carries his name as publisher.
His prosecutorial work covered white-collar crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and public corruption cases. Those years give these reference guides their point of view: how the prosecution builds a federal case, step by step.
Since leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, John Kirby has studied federal criminal practice across the country, bringing prosecution-side insight to these guides. His career spans more than 25 years on both sides of the federal courtroom.
In 2024, he secured a Presidential Clemency grant from President Biden for a person serving a life sentence — a grant documented in the public record.