US Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Thursday he would personally ensure that the US Department of Justice does not bow to political pressure as it prosecutes government officials for corruption. In a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Mukasey said:

Public corruption can inflict damage that is not only costly but also profound. When a public servant at any level of government exploits his or her office for improper purposes, the damage is measured not just in dollars and cents but also in erosion of the public trust upon which depends the survival of our system of government.

We fight, investigate and prosecute public corruption to ensure that those who hold public office live up to the public's trust, and to build the public's confidence in the very idea of government, without which the government cannot function.

The investigation and prosecution of public corruption is therefore among the highest obligations of law enforcement, and it should come as no surprise that I consider it to be one of the top priorities of the Department of Justice. In recent years, the Department's career prosecutors and criminal investigators have been engaged in a renewed effort to pursue corruption at all levels and in all branches of government.

Mukasey emphasized that the joint efforts of the DOJ and US Attorney's offices had resulted in the convictions of 1,093 individuals for corruption in 2006, including former congressmen Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney.

Mukasey's speech came only hours after a federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico charged Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 associates with 27 counts of conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes related to campaign financing.

Herbert Smith has made up a record 18 associates to the partnership and a third of them are women.

The bulk of the promotions were made around the firm's international network with just eight of the 18 based in the London office. As last year, when the firm made up a total of 10, the corporate practice gained the highest number of new partners at seven. Litigation and arbitration has gained five new partners while finance and real estate will receive two new partners apiece and employment and competition each gain one.

Senior partner David Gold said the geographic and departmental splits had been very deliberate. "This year's promotions will support two of our key strategic priorities, namely strengthening our international capability and further developing the distinctive breadth and balance of our practice," he added. "Both are pivotal to our ability to support clients and maintain high activity levels across the range of economic cycles."

In terms of offices, after London, Paris has gained four new partners while Hong Kong and Tokyo have each gained two and Beijing and Brussels have gained one each. This is a big shift in strategy from last year's promotions when Hong Kong received one internal promotion with the remaining nine going to the London office.