Duane Kees

Duane A. Kees
United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas
In office January 5, 2018 – January 17, 2020
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Conner Eldridge
Succeeded by	David Clay Fowlkes (Acting)
Personal details
Born	Duane Adkins Kees 1975 (age 49–50) Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Education	University of Arkansas (BA, JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	2000 – 2008
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps

Duane Adkins ("Dak") Kees[1] (born 1975) is an American attorney and former United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. He has also served as director of global ethics and compliance at Walmart and as chief counsel for global investigations and regulatory compliance at Tyson Foods.

Early life and education

He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas and his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law.[2][3]

Career

Military service

Kees attended The JAG School at the University of Virginia and entered the U.S. Army JAG Corps. he served in the JAG Corps for eight years. During his time on active duty, he prosecuted and defended a variety of complex cases and earned two Bronze Stars and a Meritorious Service Medal.[4] He is currently a major in the Arkansas National Guard. Kees was previously a partner at the Asa Hutchinson Law Group.

United States Attorney

On September 22, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Kees to be the United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.[2] On December 20, 2017, his nomination was confirmed in the United States Senate by voice vote.[5] He was sworn into office on January 5, 2018.[6] He resigned on January 17, 2020, to return to the private sector.[7][8] It later emerged that Kees resigned while being investigated by the Department of Justice for an improper intimate relationship with a subordinate, which Kees began shortly after being sworn in as US Attorney and which lasted approximately seven months.[9][10]

Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission

In June 2023, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin appointed Kees to the state's Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, an agency that investigates judges for violations of the state's judicial code of conduct.[11] In May 2024, Kees resigned from the commission after an investigative journalist for The Intercept began making inquiries related to a report released by the Department of Justice, alleging that while serving as US Attorney Kees had an improper relationship with a subordinate and tried to block the firing of another employee who had committed "additional acts of misconduct" to try to keep his own misconduct out of the spotlight.[10]

References

1. UNITED STATES v. 0.028 ACRES OF LAND
2. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Seventh Wave of United States Attorney Nominations". whitehouse.gov. September 22, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017 – via National Archives. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. Brantley, Max (September 22, 2017). "Walmart lawyer picked for U.S. attorney in western Arkansas". Arkansas Times. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
4. "Trump nominates Duane "Dak" Kees for U.S. Attorney for Western District of Arkansas". Talk Business & Politics. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
5. "PN1051 - Nomination of Duane A. Kees for Department of Justice, 115th Congress (2017-2018)". www.congress.gov. December 20, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
6. "Duane (DAK) Kees Takes Office As United States Attorney For The Western District Of Arkansas" (Press release). Fort Smith, Arkansas. January 5, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
7. "U.S. Attorney Duane Kees announces resignation". KARK. January 13, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
8. "Federal prosecutor in Arkansas resigning for private sector". AP NEWS. January 13, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
9. DeMillo, Andrew (May 16, 2024). "Federal prosecutor in Arkansas stepped down while being investigated, report says". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
10. Musgrave, Shawn (May 14, 2024). "This U.S. Attorney Resigned Amid an Ethics Investigation. Yet He Wound Up Overseeing Judges' Ethics". The Intercept. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
11. Gelder, Austin (May 15, 2024). "Judicial ethics commissioner Dak Kees out amid questions about his own ethics". Arkansas Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.