Overview
Whit Peters has represented clients in a wide range of complex civil and criminal litigation and in enforcement matters before various federal agencies. Illustrative of his practice, Whit has successfully represented public companies, audit committees, and senior officers of public companies in securities litigation, derivative litigation, internal investigations of alleged corporate wrongdoing, whistleblower matters, and matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission; international arbitration between a foreign prime contractor and its U.S. suppliers; trade secret litigation relating to the processing of big data; and debarment litigation arising out of contracts performed in Afghanistan. As a former Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy General Counsel of DoD, Whit also advises clients on major government acquisition programs, bid protests, qui tam and False Claims Act litigation, debarment and suspension proceedings, and security clearance matters.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Whit grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1968. He spent four years as a Navy line officer before earning his M.Sc., with distinction, from the London School of Economics. Mr. Peters received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was President, Harvard Law Review. He clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., on the Supreme Court. Whit joined Williams & Connolly in 1978. He has served on the firm’s Hiring Committee as an associate and chaired the firm’s Computer Committee from its inception in 1985 until 2011. He was selected through client nomination to the BTI Client Service All-Stars 2015, and has been recognized in the 2015 edition of The Legal 500 U.S. for commercial litigation.
Whit left the firm in 1995 to join DoD as its Principal Deputy General Counsel and was later confirmed as the Undersecretary and then Secretary of the Air Force. During his time in the Department, he was awarded the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service on three occasions and the Army, Navy and Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medals. He was also the first Air Force Secretary to be awarded the Order of the Sword, the highest award noncommissioned officers can grant to recognize individuals they hold in esteem.
Whit returned to Williams & Connolly in 2001. Since 2001, he has served on the Boards of the Air Force Aid Society, the Air Force Enlisted Village, the Air Force Association, and Little Folks School in Washington, D.C., and on the advisory boards of a number of government contractors. Whit has frequently served on Bar committees and on federal advisory committees. He has been a member of the Legal Ethics Committee of the D.C. Bar and was chair of the Bar’s Rules of Professional Responsibility Review Committee. He was also a member of the Rules Committee, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. From 1991 to 1993, Whit was a member of the Department of Defense Advisory Committee on Streamlining and Codifying Acquisition Law (the “Section 800 panel”), whose recommendations led to the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 and the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1995. He served as Vice Chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Future of the Aerospace Industry, Chair of the DoD Advisory Committee on Roles of Civilian and Military Attorneys in the Military Services, and as a member of the Defense Science Board, the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, and the Virginia Governor’s Commission on Military Basing.