David E. Nahmias, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, will join the Firm as a partner based in the Atlanta Office. He will lead the Investigations & White Collar Defense team in Atlanta while also working with the Firm’s Issues & Appeals Practice.
Mr. Nahmias served as a Justice on Georgia’s highest court for almost 13 years, during which time he wrote more than 470 opinions and joined more than 2,700 others. He was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court by then-Governor Sonny Perdue in 2009, won two statewide nonpartisan elections to six-year terms, served as Presiding Justice from 2018-2021, and became Chief Justice in July 2021. He resigned from the Supreme Court effective July 17, 2022. In 2012, then-Justice Nahmias was appointed by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for a six-year term on the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules.
Prior to his appointment to the state Supreme Court, Mr. Nahmias spent nearly 15 years with the U.S. Department of Justice. He started as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, handling numerous significant fraud, public corruption, and domestic terrorism cases and trying nine jury trials as lead counsel. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Nahmias served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General and then Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at Main Justice, overseeing the Counterterrorism, Fraud, and Appellate Sections. In 2004, he was nominated by President Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, overseeing all of that large district’s criminal and civil cases for almost five years before going on the bench. Mr. Nahmias also served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and chaired the AGAC’s White Collar Crime Subcommittee.
“Former Chief Justice Nahmias is widely viewed as one of the most influential justices to serve on our state’s Supreme Court in the last generation,” said Al LaFiandra, Partner-in-Charge of the Atlanta Office. “He is respected throughout Georgia’s business and legal communities as a lawyer of great integrity and intellect, and he has deep civic connections here in Atlanta. We are delighted that he has joined Jones Day and look forward to working alongside him to serve our clients.”
“David Nahmias was a highly experienced and nationally known prosecutor who has overseen virtually every type of government investigation and federal prosecution, including major fraud, corruption, and terrorism matters,” said Ted Chung, leader of the Firm’s Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice. “The perspective he brings from his service as one of the most respected members of the judiciary in the region and as a top-level U.S. enforcement official will be a valuable asset to our clients as we counsel them on legal defense strategies and respond to investigations. We are pleased that he has chosen to join Jones Day and welcome him to the Firm.”
Mr. Nahmias joins a team at Jones Day that has helped clients navigate many of the most significant U.S. and cross-border investigations and white-collar criminal defense matters in recent decades. He will work with a global team of experienced lawyers to defend companies, institutions, and individuals against government investigations and to counsel clients in regulatory, litigation, and compliance matters.
“The former Chief Justice is a first-rate jurist and attorney, with broad legal knowledge from his time on the bench, as a federal prosecutor, and in private practice,” said Traci Lovitt, leader of the Firm’s Issues & Appeals Practice. “He will complement our already-top-notch ability to develop and execute strategies to solve our clients’ most difficult legal challenges.”
“I am excited to join Jones Day’s Atlanta Office and to work in the Firm’s outstanding Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice, while also offering insights from my appellate experience to the Firm’s renowned Issues & Appeals Practice,” said Mr. Nahmias. “I have long admired the collegiality and attention to client service that is embedded in the Jones Day culture, and I look forward to contributing to the successful representation of prominent businesses, institutions, and individuals in their most critical legal matters.”
The son of immigrants from Egypt and Germany, Mr. Nahmias was born and raised in the Atlanta area. He earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University, where he graduated summa cum laude and second in his class, and his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude and served on the Harvard Law Review. He then served as a law clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court.
