Former U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Fruchter have joined the Spokane office of San Diego-based law firm Singleton Schreiber LLP as partners.

Waldref and Fruchter both wrapped up their roles with the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year.

The addition of Waldref and Fruchter at the national plaintiff law firm will strengthen its “capabilities in environmental protection, consumer and financial fraud, personal injury, and civil rights litigation,” a press release from the firm states.

Waldref served at the Department of Justice since 2013, first as an assistant U.S. attorney. She became the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington in 2021 and was the first woman to hold the position.

As U.S. attorney, she was an adviser to the U.S. Attorney General on environmental enforcement and addressing the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People. 

Under Waldref’s leadership, the Eastern District of Washington expanded its fraud-fighting efforts, launching a COVID-Fraud Strike Force and recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for taxpayers under the False Claims Act. 

Fruchter spent over 15 years with the Department of Justice. He handled hundreds of whistleblower, False Claims Act, and complex affirmative civil enforcement matters on behalf of the U.S. as a trial attorney and assistant U.S. attorney.

Most recently, between 2017 and 2025, Fruchter served as chief of the fraud and white-collar crime unit in the Eastern District of Washington, handling criminal and civil fraud, consumer protection, public corruption, and environmental crime cases in Eastern Washington.

The Spokane office of Singleton Schreiber is located in the Washington Trust Bank Tower East building, at 601 W. First downtown.

No other attorneys or staff are listed at the Spokane office, but the firm's attorneys have represented victims of Medical Lake’s Gray Fire.