Joe Whitley

Joe D. Whitley, currently in private practice at Baker Donelson, was the first General Counsel for the United States Department of Homeland Security.
During the George H.W. Bush administration, Joe served as the Acting United States Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position in the Department of Justice. Under President Ronald Reagan, he was the U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Georgia in Macon, and under President George H.W. Bush, Whitley served as the U.S. Attorney in the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia in Atlanta.
Prior to joining the Department of Homeland Security, and immediately following his service at DHS, Whitley was a partner at Alston & Bird, where he served as head of the firm's White Collar Government Enforcement & Investigations Group, his practice concentrating on government investigations, environmental and health care fraud and complex civil litigation.
Whitley is the former Chair of the Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association. He is a former council member of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. He served as Vice Chair for Governmental Affairs of the 2002–03 ABA Criminal Justice Section. He also chairs annual seminars and institutes for Georgia ICLE on White Collar Crime, Health Care Fraud, FCPA, Internal Investigations and Cybercrime. Whitley chairs the ABA's Annual National Homeland Security Law Institute in Washington, DC.

Whitley received his bachelor's degree, cum laude, from the University of Georgia in 1972, and a J.D., cum laude, in 1975 from the University of Georgia Law School. He currently serves on the Board of Visitors for the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at the University of Georgia.

Whitley is licensed to practice law in Georgia and the District of Columbia.

Whitley is a frequent speaker and lecture at institutions, events and seminars