Professor Blanchard is a Senior Counsel with Holland & Knight, where he represents clients in complex commercial disputes and high-stakes litigation in federal and state courts. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he served as chief of the Major Crimes Unit, supervising a team of 15 federal prosecutors who investigated a broad range of complex federal felonies, including RICO conspiracies, capital murders, corporate environmental crimes, civil rights violations, and war crimes. In that role, Professor Blanchard oversaw all aspects of case initiation, development, and resolution and regularly liaised with the judiciary, federal and local law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Department of Justice. During his nine years as a federal prosecutor, Professor Blanchard personally led or directly supervised 16 jury trials and three bench trials and successfully defended convictions on appeal. Professor Blanchard received a B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school, Professor Blanchard clerked for the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Norman K. Moon of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. During law school, he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review, served on the Board of Directors of the Public Interest Law Association, and received the Rosenbloom Award, which is bestowed by the faculty and recognizes a student who exhibits both academic excellence and collegiality.