(Photo: Monika Kozak/ALM)

Hadassa Waxman, the former co-chief of the general crimes unit at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York who is known for her role prosecuting the infamous “cannibal cop” case, has joined Proskauer Rose as a partner, the firm said Tuesday.

Waxman, who spent nine years at perhaps the most prominent federal prosecutor's office in the United States, said she's eager to get back to the courtroom as a member of Proskauer's white-collar and securities litigation groups. She spent the last two years overseeing some 50 assistant U.S. attorneys in their first years on the job, advising them on building their cases and going to trial.

While many of Waxman's most high-profile cases have involved murders, kidnappings, drugs and other crime, she said she has overseen hundreds of the kinds of white-collar cases that  come Proskauer's way. In her time as co-chief of the general crimes unit, she estimated that it brought 15 fraud cases to trial.

“I was advising assistant U.S. attorneys on a daily basis about how to charge their fraud cases, who to charge, what kind of evidence was needed,” she said.

As an assistant U.S. attorney, one of Waxman's most high-profile cases involved allegations that New York City police officer Gilberto Valle conspired to abduct, rape, kill and cannibalize women, earning him the moniker “cannibal cop” in the media. Although he was convicted by a jury, a judge acquitted Valle of the main charges against him in 2014, saying the weight of the evidence suggested that his online posts were just fantasy and did not describe his true intent.

Waxman worked on her fair share of less gruesome matters, too. In between stints on the violent crime team, Waxman said, she worked in the public corruption unit, and later worked on securities fraud cases before becoming the co-chief of general crimes.

She said she spoke to several firms, but in the end picking Proskauer was a “no-brainer.” She said Mark Harris, another partner at Proskauer who had worked as an assistant U.S. attorney before joining the firm, was an old friend. ”Mark and I have been friends since 1997 when I was a law student and he was an AUSA at the SDNY,” she added in an email. “Since that time, he has been a close friend and mentor.”

Waxman added that she looked forward to working with Robert Cleary, the past co-chair of Proskauer's litigation department, who she said she came to know through the interview process.

Waxman had nothing but praise for her former colleagues at the U.S. Attorney's Office, including Robert Khuzami, the deputy U.S. attorney whose departure was announced days ago, and Audrey Strauss, his replacement. Waxman said Strauss was a “role model” for her, and also praised U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman as “a man of tremendous integrity.”

“I think the office is going to go from strength to strength,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said Rebecca Mermelstein became the new co-chief of the general crimes unit with Waxman's departure. She joins Brian Blais, who according to his LinkedIn profile has been in that role since August 2017.