Howard Zlotnick
Howard J. Zlotnick served as managing assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from 2005 until he retired in June 2021. In addition to supervising the assistant U.S. attorneys and support staff in the Newport News division, he managed numerous fraud schemes, narcotics and violent crimes cases, including federal robberies and homicides. He also prosecuted and dismantled several street gangs by utilizing the RICO statute. In 2017, he received the Department of Justice Director’s Award for his role in prosecuting a Newport News street gang involved in multiple murders.
From 2008 to 2018, Zlotnick served as an adjunct professor at William & Mary Law School, where he taught courses in Trial Advocacy, White-Collar Crime and Evidence. He has also taught classes to Department of Justice prosecutors at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Since his retirement in 2021, he has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia and George Washington University law schools.
In 2024, the Eastern District of Virginia invited him to serve as a special assistant U.S. attorney and join a trial team to prosecute a group of defendants responsible for five murders and a series of armed robberies. This case went to trial in May and June 2024, leading to convictions for all defendants and life sentences for each.
Zlotnick is a native of Ohio. He received his B.A. from Hiram College and his J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law.
After law school, Zlotnick joined the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps. In his role as a Navy JAG Corps officer, Zlotnick defended and prosecuted active-duty members of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. His final position in the military was as senior trial counsel in Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines.
Between 1982 and 1984, Zlotnick practiced at Copperman & Zlotnick, focusing on civil litigation and criminal defense. He then served as an assistant district attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Rackets Bureau from 1984 to 1986 in New York.
In 1986, Zlotnick joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Nevada District. He became the criminal chief and later the first assistant U.S. attorney in Nevada, a role he served in from 1995 until April 2002. Zlotnick was the interim U.S. attorney from April 21-Aug. 17, 2001. He worked as a federal prosecutor in Nevada until May 2003, when he transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
As an assistant U.S. attorney in Nevada, he prosecuted numerous complex federal cases and was instrumental in developing prosecution programs for the District of Nevada. He was among the country’s first assistant U.S. attorneys to utilize the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute to address penny stock fraud and illegal telemarketing. In 1996, the Department of Justice honored him with a Director’s Award for his work in prosecuting illegal telemarketing. He also handled some of the earliest money laundering cases in Nevada. Additionally, after obtaining guilty verdicts in his cases, he defended the convictions and sentences before the Ninth Circuit.
Zlotnick was admitted to the Ohio State Bar in 1978, the New York State Bar in 1985 and the Nevada State Bar in 1996.
He authored the following articles for the Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law and Practice:
“General Ulysses S. Grant’s Lessons for Prosecutors” 68 DOJ. J. Fed. L. & Prac. 121 (2021).
“An Approach to Cross-Examining Defendants,” 69 DOJ. J. Fed. L. & Prac. 121.
“Twelve Rules for Presenting Accomplice Witnesses,” 71 69 DOJ. J. Fed. L. & Prac. 43 (2023).
“Discrediting Defense Testimony: Liars. Lies and Softer Language,” 72 DOJ J. Fed. Law & Pract. 79 (2024).
In addition, he authored the following articles for the American Journal of Trial Advocacy:
“Structuring Rebuttal: The Anti-Sandbagging Rule, Avoiding Improper Arguments, and Crafting a Strong Rebuttal,” 47 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 95 (2023).
“The Techniques of Lawyer-Oriented Direct Examination,” 48 Am J. Trial Advoc. 1 (2024).