Robert L. Capers '96 has enjoyed a long and storied career in public service and exemplifies the principals of service shared by Albany Law.  He is currently the Chief United States Probation Officer for the Eastern District of New York ("EDNY").  In that capacity, he is a Court Unit Executive within the United States District Court for the EDNY, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, as well as Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, and is responsible for overseeing a staff of approximately 90 federal probation officers and staff that prepares over 600 presentence reports per year in aid of sentencing for federally convicted criminal defendants and supervises over 2,000 offenders per year.

From October 2017 to his appointment as Chief Probation Officer in December 2019,  Capers was a partner in the New York City Office of Arent Fox LLP, where he co-chaired the White-Collar Defense and Investigations practice group and was a member of the Business Compliance and Integrity Monitorships practice group. 

Capers began his career in the Eastern District in 2003 and served as a trial AUSA in the General Crimes, Narcotics, and the Violent Crimes and Terrorism Sections.  He also served as an Acting Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section, Deputy Chief and Chief of the Narcotics Section and the International Narcotics Strike Force, Deputy Chief of the Litigation Unit within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section in Washington, D.C., and Senior Litigation Counsel in the Office's Public Integrity Section where he handled complex investigations and prosecutions involving public officials who abused their offices and the public trust.  During his time in the Office, Capers was responsible for investigations and trials involving a wide range of crimes, including racketeering, international narcotics trafficking, murder, and public corruption. 

On October 8, 2015, Capers was nominated by Former President Barack Obama to be the United States Attorney for the EDNY. On the same day, Former Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Mr. Capers to that position in an interim capacity.  Capers was confirmed by the Senate on December 15, 2015, and he took the oath of office on January 4, 2016.  As United States Attorney, he was responsible for overseeing all federal criminal and civil investigations and cases in the district and supervised a staff of approximately 180 attorneys and 130 support personnel.

Upon his graduation from Albany Law in 1996 until 2003, Capers served as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office under the legendary Robert M. Morgenthau and the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for New York City.