Andrew S. Boutros has been a Lecturer in Law at the Law School since 2011, teaching a course on corporate criminal prosecutions and investigations. At different times, he has also served as a special advisor to the University of Chicago Corporate Lab. While working with the Law School for the last 16 years, Mr. Boutros has helped plan, organize, and host several conferences; worked with students to publish a special report on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”); worked with and advised students in the publication of their own works in journals and other outlets across the country; and published his own work with one of the Law School’s journals.

Mr. Boutros is now the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.  As the United States Attorney, Mr. Boutros serves as the top federal law enforcement official in the District, which contains approximately nine million people in 18 counties. The Office is widely recognized for significant prosecutions involving violent crime, transnational cartels and terrorist groups, human trafficking, illegal immigration, public corruption, and numerous other criminal and civil matters. As the United States Attorney, Mr. Boutros manages more than 300 employees, including approximately 145 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Chicago and Rockford.

As an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2008 to 2015, U.S. Attorney Boutros investigated and successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases, many of which involved matters of national and international significance, which the Chicago Sun-Times described in a profile of him as “some of the toughest, most sophisticated cases at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.” Among the types of matters he handled, Mr. Boutros investigated and prosecuted drug trafficking organizations, street gangs, violent criminals, illegal immigrants with criminal records of violence, and money launderers, as well as fraud and white collar crimes.  Mr. Boutros worked closely with law enforcement partners in the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, IRS, Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service, among other law enforcement partners, as well as with various DOJ components and U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country—and in some cases, law enforcement authorities throughout the world.  Mr. Boutros’s notable convictions included the world’s largest online drug trafficker on the dark web, one of the country’s “Top Ten Most Wanted” mortgage fraud defendants, and the owner of a Chicago hospital who thwarted collection of more than $188 million in civil judgments.  Mr. Boutros also successfully prosecuted a series of cases involving unprecedented criminal violations of international trade, customs, and anti-dumping laws, with losses totaling approximately $260 million and which Bloomberg Businessweek described as “the largest food fraud in U.S. history.” 

U.S. Attorney Boutros received numerous awards and accolades for his work as a federal prosecutor.  The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association selected him as the National Prosecutor of the Year, presenting him with the National Prosecutorial Award.  The American Bar Association honored Mr. Boutros with the Criminal Justice Section’s Norm Maleng Minister of Justice Award for best exemplifying the prosecutor’s duty to seek justice.  Mr. Boutros also received honors from the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and CBP.

From 2015 until his appointment as United States Attorney, Mr. Boutros worked in private law practice in Chicago, holding various leadership roles.  While practicing law full time, Mr. Boutros has also written and spoken extensively on criminal law and criminal law adjacent topics, including publishing two books, authoring nearly 160 articles and book chapters, and presenting at 90 speaking engagements.

U.S. Attorney Boutros’s government profile is available here.