Justice Fixer Stemler Retires as Top Criminal Appellate Attorney

Justice Department prosecutors with a knotty criminal law question or senior officials needing to sort out a high-profile litigation mess, have usually turned to the same fixer for decades.

That discreet and publicity-shy problem solver, Patty Stemler, retired Monday from a 30-year reign as DOJ’s top criminal appellate attorney. Colleagues say she’s built the appellate section into an elite unit consulted at every step of critical litigation and wading into some of the DOJ’s most delicate cases.

“I hate to overuse the word—but, transformative,” said U.S. Circuit Court Judge William Bryson of Stemler’s contributions to the department.

Stemler, who arrived ...