David J. Hickton

The Honorable David J. Hickton
Hickton's official DOJ photo
Residence	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Education	JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1981 BA, Penn State University, 1978
Years active	36
Employer	University of Pittsburgh
Spouse(s)	Dawne Hickton

JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1981

David J. Hickton, of Thornburg, Pennsylvania, is the director and founder of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. Prior to that, he was the 57th U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He resigned following the election of President Donald Trump and began his position at Pitt in January 2017. While a U.S. Attorney, Hickton brought several indictments for cybertheft and hacking. He also played a key role in combating the opioid abuse epidemic in Western Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming U.S. Attorney, Hickton engaged in the private practice of law, specifically in the areas of transportation, litigation, commercial and white collar crime.

David J. Hickton received his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he met his wife Dawne Eileen Sepanski Hickton. He began his legal career as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond from 1981 to 1983. For more than a decade, Hickton was an adjunct professor at the Duquesne University School of Law, where he taught a course on antitrust. He served on the Board of Trustees at Penn State University from 1977-1980.

Hickton was nominated as U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania by President Barack Obama on May 3, 2010, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 5, 2010.

In May, 2014, Hickton's office brought an indictment against five members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, alleging economic espionage. The defendants were charged with hacking into American entities to steal trade secrets and other information that would be useful to Chinese competitors. Victims included Westinghouse Electric Company, the U.S. Steel, Alcoa, Inc., and Allegheny Technologies. His office also indicted Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev, one of the world's leading cyber criminals.