Wifredo A. "Willy" Ferrer (born 1966) is the former

United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.. Appeal ...

. He was nominated on February 24, 2010 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 confirmed by the Senate on April 22, 2010. He was sworn in on July 16, 2010 in Miami, Florida. As United States Attorney, he was the chief federal law enforcement officer for the District. Ferrer is currently the Chair of

Holland & Knight Holland & Knight LLP is an American multinational law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers and other professionals in 35 offices in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and North Africa. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm provides repre ...

's Global Compliance and Investigations Team.

Education

Ferrer earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Economics from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in 1987. He then continued his education in law at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1990.

Early life and career

Ferrer was born in Hialeah, Florida in 1966, and attended

Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School , motto_translation = ''Work Conquers All'' , streetaddress = 7977 West 12th Avenue , city = Hialeah , state = Florida , zipcode = 33014 , country = United States , coordinates = , type = Pub ...

. After graduating law school in 1990, he clerked for then District Judge

Stanley Marcus Harold Stanley Marcus"Personal" (column), ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 9, 1905, page 5. (April 20, 1905 – January 22, 2002) was president (1950–1972) and later chairman of the board (1972–1976) of the luxury retailer Neiman ...

. Upon completing his clerkship in Fall 1991, he joined the Miami law firm of Steel, Hector & Davis where he remained for three years. Ferrer then returned to public service, first as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and later as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to then Attorney General

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

. After five years at the Department of Justice, Ferrer returned to Miami in 2000 to become an Assistant United States Attorney. While at the United States Attorney's Office, he served in the Public Integrity and National Security Section, the Economic Crimes Section, the Major Crimes Section and the Appellate Division of the Office. As an Assistant United States Attorney, he handled and tried numerous high-profile matters, including international money laundering, health care fraud, narcotics, international human rights abuses, immigration and firearms offenses. In 2006, Ferrer joined the Miami-Dade County Attorney's office, where he was an Assistant County Attorney and chief of the Federal Litigation Section. In March 2017, Ferrer stepped down from his position as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and joined the law firm of

in its Miami office as a partner and head of the firm's Global Compliance and Investigations Team. During his career, Ferrer has been recognized as one of the Top Government Attorneys by both South Florida Legal Guide and Florida Legal Elite. In addition, he received the Attorney General's Medal in 2000, and Superior Performance and Special Merit Awards for his work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

References

External links

United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrer, Wifredo A. 1966 births Living people People from Hialeah, Florida University of Miami alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni United States Attorneys for the Southern District of Florida White House Fellows Holland & Knight partners Henry Crown Fellows