Timothy J. Heaphy (born 1964) is a white-collar criminal defense attorney, law professor and a former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the Western District of Virginia. He served as the lead investigator for the

House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan Select or special committee (United States Congress), select committee of the U.S. House of ...

Education and early career

Heaphy was raised in a Maryland suburb of

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

He attended college at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

where he played football. He is married to Lori Shinseki, the daughter of

Eric Shinseki Eric Ken Shinseki (; born November 28, 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014). His final United States Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Arm ...

. After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1986, Heaphy taught at a private school for a year and then joined the staff of Senator Joe Biden (D- Del.) He returned to

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

in 1988 to attend

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

, graduating in 1991. Heaphy was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

to Judge

John A. Terry John A. Terry (May 6, 1933 – September 5, 2021) was a judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court for the District of Columbia. Born in Utica, New York, Terry was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended John Burro ...

of the

District of Columbia Court of Appeals The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, in the United States. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Congr ...

before joining the law firm of

Morrison & Foerster Morrison & Foerster LLP (also known as MoFo) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 17 offices located throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. The firm has over 1,000 lawyers who advise cli ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Federal career

Following a two-year stint at Morrison & Foerster, Heaphy joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. In 2003, Heaphy joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Virginia based in

. After three years, Heaphy returned to private practice, serving as a partner with the law firm of

McGuireWoods McGuireWoods LLP is a US-based international law firm. Their largest offices are in Richmond, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Chicago, Illinois. History 1800s–1960s McGuireWoods traces its origins to two lawyers, Egbert R. Watson and ...

. In 2009, Heaphy was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

and became the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia on December 11, 2009.

Return to private practice

He left the U.S. Attorney's office in December 2014 to join

Hunton & Williams Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is an American law firm created by the merger of Hunton & Williams LLP and Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP on April 2, 2018. The firm has offices in 20 cities, primarily in the United States. History Hunton & Williams (formerl ...

. In 2016, Heaphy founded a nonprofit organization that will provide low-interest loans to formerly incarcerated persons, The Fountain Fund. In 2017, Heaphy authored a report, commissioned by the City of Charlottesville, on the city's handling of the August 2017

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...

. Heaphy served as an assistant Virginia attorney general and as counsel for the

before taking a leave of absence from both positions in August 2021 after being appointed as chief investigative counsel for the

United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan Select or special committee (United States Congress), select committee of the U.S. House of ...

Awards

In 2003, ''

The National Law Journal ''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''. Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...

'' named Heaphy one of its 40 Important Lawyers Under 40.40 Under 40: A Look at Some of the Most Important Young Litigators in America. The National Law Journal July 29, 2002.

Notes

References

* Movers. The National Law Journal February 6, 2006 * Jen McCaffrey, Federal Jury Spares Convicted Killer’s Life in Double-Murder Case, ''The Roanoke Times'', February 18, 2005. * Jim Keary. "'Slasher' is sentenced; Robber terrorized residents on Hill", ''The Washington Times'', December 17, 1997.

External links

Timothy J. Heaphy, United States Attorney
Office of the United States Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaphy, Tim 1964 births Living people Criminal defense lawyers Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut People associated with Morrison & Foerster United States Attorneys for the Western District of Virginia University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia lawyers