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Mr. Barclift earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance from the University of North Alabama and a Juris Doctor degree from Cumberland School of Law. Mr. Barclift was commissioned as a judge advocate general officer in the United States Army Reserve in 1987, after which he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2017. Mr. Barclift was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) by United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh in 1989. Mr. Barclift first served as an AUSA in the Civil Division of the Northern District of Alabama, where he was recruited by then-United States Attorney Frank Donaldson, who had served as one of Mr. Barclift’s professors in law school. From 1991, Mr. Barclift served as an AUSA in the Criminal Division for the Middle District of Florida, where he was recruited by now Senior United States District Judge Virginia Covington.
As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Barclift developed specialties in both white-collar fraud and complex drug prosecutions. In one of the first successful prosecutions of its kind by DOJ, as co-prosecutor in the 2014 trial of United States v. Green and Hebble, Mr. Barclift and his co-counsel, AUSA Yolande Viacava, applied investigation and prosecution techniques from both white-collar fraud and complex drugs cases and after a month-long trial achieved guilty verdicts for the owners of a pharmacy who conspired with doctors and drug dealers to unlawfully distribute oxycodone.
During his tenure as an AUSA in the Middle District of Florida, Mr. Barclift was detailed to the Office of Inspector General of DOJ, where he participated in an administrative investigation of the off-duty activities of law enforcement officers at the behest of Congress and was specially appointed as a Deputy Attorney General to prosecute theft of federal benefits by federal employees in the Southern District of Florida where the United States Attorney’s Office was conflicted.
Professional Background
Prior to his appointment as an AUSA, Mr. Barclift worked in Trust Banking for what is now Regions Bank in Birmingham, Alabama, where he gained valuable expertise in wills, trusts, estates and investments. As a Judge Advocate General Officer for the Army Reserve, Mr. Barclift was assigned to the 3d Transportation Brigade in Anniston, Alabama; the 174th Legal Operations Department in Miami, Florida; the 641st Regional Support Command in St. Petersburg, Florida; and United States Southern Command in Doral, Florida. Lieutenant Colonel Barclift served as Brigade Judge Advocate for the 641st RSC, team leader for the International and Operational Law team within the 174th LOD, which supported legal operations at MacDill Air Force Base, and Deputy Commander for the 174th LOD.
In their spare time, Mr. Barclift and his wife, Deniz Peker Barclift, M.D., enjoy travelling with their canine companions, Dexter and Bella and have made road trips from Atlanta to destinations as far away as New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Ontario and Quebec, Canada. They enjoy travelling abroad as well, thus far, without their four-legged companions. Mr. Barclift is also an avid musical enthusiast, having played guitar and bass during his growing up years in the northwest corner of Alabama, now known as the Shoals – an area whose local record recording industry prominently created hit after hit in the 60s and 70s. Mr. Barclift founded the Alter Ego Band of Fort Myers, Florida, in 2000 and, more recently, the Alter Ego Band of Atlanta, both of which specialize primarily in the great music created during that era in the Shoals and elsewhere. Alter Ego is a term meaning one’s second self.