Nunez to Quit as Top Federal Attorney in S.D.

Peter K. Nunez, the sometimes outspoken U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, announced Thursday that he plans to resign to become a partner in the San Diego office of a San Francisco law firm.

Nunez, 45, has been the top federal prosecutor in San Diego since his appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District in April, 1983. Later in that year he was nominated to fill the position permanently.

“It’s time to move on. It has absolutely no other implications,” Nunez said. “I’ve been in this office for 16 years, and it’s time for some new challenges.”

Criticized Crackdown

In recent weeks, Nunez has criticized the federal government’s “zero tolerance” drug crackdown. But he said Thursday that his superiors in Washington have not objected to his public statements.

Nunez said he will be a partner in the civil litigation section of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, a large San Francisco law firm that specializes in cases involving financial institutions, securities, government contracts, real estate and corporate taxes.

The firm has 350 lawyers in six offices throughout California and is planning to expand its 26-lawyer San Diego branch, Nunez said. He said he has been negotiating with the firm for about six months.

In a memorandum distributed to the staff in his office Thursday, Nunez said he will stay on as U.S. attorney until Sept. 1 at the latest to give Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III time to choose a successor. That successor might serve for only four more months, however, depending on the results off the presidential election in November.

Justice Department officials in Washington said late Thursday that they were surprised by Nunez’s resignation and had no idea what was behind it. They noted that Meese has praised Nunez recently and that there is no reason to believe his resignation was for anything other than personal reasons.

Colleagues in San Diego said Thursday that Nunez is making the move now because of the possibility he will lose his post when the new Administration takes over in Washington next January.

“It’s just a good opportunity for a guy who basically sees the writing on the wall,” said Michael L. Lipman, a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked with Nunez. “In six months, he could be out on the street.”

“I think any U.S. attorney, from the day he becomes U.S. attorney, has got in back of his mind where is he going to go in four years,” said Lipman.

‘Decided to Leave’

“He just decided to leave,” said Philip Halpern, an assistant U.S. attorney. “It’s a very good opportunity with a very prestigious firm.” Halpern added that Nunez was concerned about the uncertainty of his position following the presidential election. Nunez has been described by friends as a somewhat apolitical Republican.

In recent years, Nunez has stood out among U.S. attorneys as an unusually vocal critic of some Justice Department policies. In August, 1986, he warned in an interview with The Times that the country’s war on drugs is being crippled by a lack of funds. He said he had lost five lawyers--10% of his legal staff--to attrition so far in the year, and he could not replace them because of limitations imposed by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget-cutting legislation.

At the same time, Meese and Vice President George Bush were announcing a crackdown on illegal drugs, Nunez pointed out.

Unusual Step

“Basically, you have an increased enforcement effort and a reduced prosecutorial effort going on at the same time,” Nunez said. “You can’t do more with less.” Last January, Nunez took the unusual step of criticizing Los Angeles U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner for announcing that nine men had been indicted in the torture-slaying of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, a case Nunez’ office had worked intensively on. The announcement, made in Los Angeles, took Nunez by surprise.

In his recent criticism of the “zero tolerance” drug crackdowns begun nationwide by the U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Coast Guard, Nunez said his office did not have sufficient resources to handle an influx of new cases. He said he believed the less harsh “zero tolerance” program he began in San Diego 18 months ago had been highly effective and was jeopardized by the new initiatives.

Nevertheless, he apparently remained in favor with Justice Department officials and has been considered for two top jobs in Washington in recent months.

Department to Grow

Richard L. Kintz, managing partner of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison’s San Diego office, said Nunez will help bolster the firm’s litigation department, which will be expanded from 6 to 15 litigators by the end of the year.

Barbara Caulfield, a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office, is being transferred to San Diego to head the litigation department here, Kintz said. Caulfield was formerly dean of the Hastings School of Law in San Francisco, he said.

“We will be able to handle larger, more complex litigation here in San Diego, similar to the large (cases) we are handling out of the L.A. and San Francisco offices,” Kintz said. Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison is now defending a group of about 30 asbestos insulation manufacturers from 6,000 lawsuits filed in San Francisco federal court. The firm is also representing Shell Oil in its $1.8-billion lawsuit against Travelers Corp. in a dispute over costs related to a cleanup of a toxic spill in Colorado.

On April 7, 1982, Nunez, a career prosecutor, was promoted to interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District from his post of chief assistant U.S. attorney.