NAFUSA member Wifredo A. “Willy” Ferrer has been named executive partner of Holland & Knight’s Miami office. Ferrer will oversee the day-to-day management of the office, while continuing his white collar defense, corporate compliance, and internal investigations practice. Holland & Knight’s Miami office is one of the firm’s largest, with 260 attorneys and staff.

Ferrer served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida for nearly seven years. His distinguished career also includes working as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. He joined Holland & Knight in 2017, and he leads the firm’s Global Compliance and Investigations Team.

Steven Sonberg, managing partner of Holland & Knight said, “While serving as the U.S. Attorney, Willy led a department of nearly 500 lawyers and staff. Since joining Holland & Knight, he has earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues and inspires the best in everyone. I’m confident he will accomplish great things for the office and the firm.”

“Holland & Knight is filled with superb lawyers and wonderful staff who work hard to provide excellent representation to our clients and many hours of dedicated service to our community,” said Ferrer. “My commitment is to continue to build on the great work that others have done over the years to ensure our office continues to be defined by excellence, collegiality, and teamwork.”

About Holland & Knight LLP:  Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers and other professionals in 28 offices throughout the world. Its lawyers provide representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law. Interdisciplinary practice groups and industry-based teams provide clients with access to attorneys throughout the firm, regardless of location.

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NAFUSA member and United States Senator Doug Jones has published a book on the September 15, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls were murdered and twenty-two others injured. Then US Attorney Doug Jones tried and convicted the final two suspects in 2001 and 2002.

The book “Bending Toward Justice” was published this month and is receiving significant praise.

NAFUSA member William “Bill” Killian (ED Tennessee 2010-2015), has authored a new book, “Won’t Back Down: The Journey from Small Town Tennessee to Presidentially Appointed United States Attorney.” In a compilation of legal anecdotes, Bill shares the experiences, cases, and instances of injustice that defined his career as a trial lawyer and his path to becoming a United States Attorney.

Prior to his work as U.S. Attorney, Killian was a sole practitioner in his law firm in Jasper, Tenn., was city attorney for the city of Monteagle, Tenn. for 21 years and was the assistant district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District in Tennessee. Throughout his professional career, Killian has held various teaching positions with colleges and universities in east Tennessee and the University of Tennessee College of Law. He served in the United States Army and the Tennessee National Guard from December 1970 to January 1973.

Killian earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 1973 after completing his B.S. from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is a former member of the Tennessee Bar Association House of Delegates and the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross Chattanooga Chapter.

NAFUSA Immediate Past President Hal Hardin received two honors in his home state of Tennessee.

On November 7, 2018, at the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual banquet in Memphis, Tennessee, Hal was presented a leadership plaque for his service as past president of the society.

On December 5, 2018, at the National Bar Association’s Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Hal was presented with the John C. Tune Public Service Award, an accolade given to a member who “makes outstanding contributions to the greater Nashville area community while distinguishing themselves as practicing attorneys.”  The award is the highest award which can be bestowed upon a member by the Bar.

This morning Ron Woods, NAFUSA Executive Director Emeritus, sent this email to his fellow Bush 41 appointees, resulting in some fine photos with the President:

To Bush 41 U.S. Attorneys

   I hope you were able to watch the two funerals/celebrations of life that were televised over the past two days in Washington and Houston. The military arranged the funerals and they were spectacular, with a flight overhead of 21 Navy jets as President Bush arrived at his final resting place at his Presidential Library at Texas A & M.

  The celebrations showing his accomplishments and how respected and admired he was made me feel very proud that I was appointed by President Bush and I hope you felt the same. President Bush was finally recognized for the many achievements he obtained in his one term Presidency.  Bush was a remarkable human being devoted to public service, honor, duty, country. He was such a gentleman to everyone.

  Several months ago, our Houston Chapter of Former FBI Agents was having our monthly lunch in a private room in a local restaurant. During the lunch, the door was opened and James Baker pushed President Bush into the room in his wheelchair. There were about 30 of us in the room and James Baker said “I’m James Baker and I used to be Secretary of State and President Bush wanted to say a few words to you”

   President Bush said that he was having lunch in the restaurant and the manager advised him that ex FBI Agents were having lunch in the private room. He stated I don’t want to interrupt your lunch but I wanted to express my thanks for your public service and how much I admire the FBI and the men and women who serve in the FBI. He was such a class act.

  The news as I write this is that our friend and colleague  Former Attorney General Bill Barr is the front runner to be named Attorney General.  Further proof of the soundness of President Bush appointees.

   The photo below was taken at the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston as I was coordinating with the Secret Service on security issues.

Ron Woods

On December 21, 1988, the bombing of PanAm 103 took the life of NAFUSA member Rick Hartunian’s 21 year old sister, Lynne, over Lockerbie, Scotland. Rick (Obama appointee), NAFUSA member Dan French (Clinton appointee), and former U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby (Bush appointee) traveled with their spouses and Glenn’s fiancé to Lockerbie, Scotland to participate in the Cycle to Syracuse, an idea conceived by now retired Lockerbie Police Officer Colin Dorrance to honor the 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which occurred 30 years ago. The journey, which is summarized in this video clip, https://youtu.be/6OOeNzmH1ls , was meant to symbolically complete the journey that Rick’s sister Lynne and the other 258 lost passengers, together with 11 Lockerbie residents, were unable to complete. Dan is the General Counsel at Syracuse University; Glenn is a the Chief U.S. District Judge in the NDNY, and Glenn’s fiancé, Jill Denny, is a senior assistant to the Chancellor and helped staff the event for Syracuse University, which sent a contingent of students and faculty to Scotland on October 13 to start the first leg of the ride, from Lockerbie to Edinburgh.  Dan cycled that 80 mile trip, wearing a photograph of Rick’s sister along the way.

After the trip through Scotland, the journey continued from Washington DC, where the Lockerbie riders began the 600 mile US cycling leg, up the Eastern seaboard through New York City and into Upstate New York, through Albany and finally onto Syracuse.  In Syracuse, the Lockerbie riders — accompanied by Dan and Glenn for the final 60 mile leg of the journey — were greeted by families and students and participated in Remembrance Week ceremonies at Syracuse University, honoring all of the victims of the tragedy, including the 35 Syracuse students lost in the bombing.

In recalling the events of 30 years ago, Rick Hartunian explained that “while the pain of losing a loved one never goes away, coping with such terrible loss is made easier by the kind gestures of friends who, like Dan, Glenn, the Lockerbie riders and all those who participated in these remembrance events, show that gestures of love and brotherhood will always outlast and overcome the forces of hatred and evil that too often challenge us in ways we never could imagine.”

At the top is a photograph of the three former NDNY USAs (Dan French, Rick Hartunian and Glenn Suddaby) at the beginning of the journey in Lockerbie on October 13, 2018. Below is a photo of the three former US Attorney colleagues at the journey’s end in Syracuse, New York on November 2, 2018.

David Hickton (Photo: Matthew Sobocinski)

On Thursday, November 29, 2018, USA Today featured NAFUSA member David Hickton (WD Pennsylvania, 2010-2016) in a front page article ‘Time to put a stop to this’: Why a Catholic prosecutor who witnessed abuse took on his own church. When Hickton served as the United States Attorney he brought a RICO indictment against the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese charging it as an interstate criminal enterprise, based on allegations that for years several priests had abused hundreds of children. Hickton told USA Today that as a sixth-grade basketball player in a Catholic grade school, “he regularly witnessed the agony of teammates after they were violated in the school’s locker room” by the basketball coach and the Catholic priest did nothing when allegations surfaced. Hickton was not physically abused himself.

Hickton is the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security.