John Palmer Fishwick, Jr. (born March 31, 1957) is an attorney in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

who served as

United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (in case citations, W.D. Va.) is a United States district court. Appeals from the Western District of Virginia are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth ...

between 2015 and 2017.

Early life and education

Fishwick was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1957. His father, John Fishwick, Sr., was a railroad executive and community leader in Roanoke. Fishwick graduated from Harvard University in 1979 and received his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the law school of Washington and Lee University, a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia. It is accredited by the American Bar Association. Facilities are on the histo ...

in 1983.

Professional career

Following law school graduation, Fishwick worked as a

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

for

James Clinton Turk James Clinton Turk (May 3, 1923 – July 6, 2014) was a Virginia lawyer, state senator and for more than four decades, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Early and family life ...

, then

, from 1983 to 1984. He was an associate at McGuire Woods Battle & Boothe in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, before opening his own firm in Roanoke in 1986, where he practiced law until 2015. In October 2015, Fishwick was one of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's six nominees to

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 ...

posts. Fishwick was confirmed unanimously by the Senate Judicial Committee and was sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Western Virginia District in December 2015. Fishwick focused his efforts on persecuting violent criminals and countering the growing heroin epidemic. He resigned on January 6, 2017. Fishwick returned to private practice at his newly created firm, Fishwick & Associates in Roanoke. He was involved in the effort to stop the excessive pay for the chief executive officer of

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merge ...

Civic activities

In 2018, Fishwick led the efforts to rename tennis courts in Roanoke after Carnis Poindexter, an African-American tennis player from Roanoke. In 2022, he began a campaign to rename Roanoke's federal courthouse building after Reuben E. Lawson, a civil rights lawyer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishwick, John P. Jr. 1957 births Living people Lawyers from Roanoke, Virginia Harvard College alumni United States attorneys for the Western District of Virginia Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni Virginia Democrats