THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: Figlio Tapped as Crist General Counsel
May 10, 2010
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA published the following on May 10, 2010:
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 10, 2010….Erik M. “Rick” Figlio was named general counsel to Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday.
Figlio, 38, returns to the administration after a short stint at Tallahassee law firm Ausley, McMullen. Before that, he was an assistant general counsel in Crist’s legal office.
Figlio served as deputy solicitor general in the attorney general’s office when Crist held that post from 2004 to 2007 and handled appeals in the federal Eleventh Circuit and the Florida district courts of appeal.
“Rick has extensive experience in the law, as well as with state government, and is deeply committed to serving the people of our great state,” Crist said in a statement. “In addition, I am confident his legal expertise will always be complemented by his unwavering integrity and fairness.”
Figlio served as a law clerk to Judge Joel F. Dubina, on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 and 2004 after practicing with Shaw, Pitmann, Potts and Trowbridge from 2002 to 2003.
Figlio received his bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and his law degree from University of Georgia School of Law.
“I am honored to have to have the opportunity to work again with Gov. Crist and to serve the people of Florida,” Figlio said. “I look forward to getting to work right away and assisting the governor in whatever ways are needed.”
In his role as deputy solicitor general, Figlio worked on several major cases in which the state was the defendant, including the unsuccessful appeal of Bush v. Holmes, the case that struck down the main school voucher program in Florida.
He’s also worked on the state’s more recent appeal of a decision siding with the Council on Secular Humanism in determining that the Department of Corrections can’t use taxpayer dollars for faith-based transitional housing programs that provide religious indoctrination. The First District Court of Appeal last month certified that question to the state Supreme Court.