John F. Wood

John Wood helps clients with their most sensitive matters involving the government. He has high-level experience in all three branches of the federal government, including as U.S. Attorney, senior investigative counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court law clerk. Mr. Wood's practice focuses on corporate compliance, internal investigations, advocacy before government agencies and litigation. Mr. Wood is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office and a member of the firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group.

Mr. Wood has extensive experience representing clients in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), False Claims Act (FCA), international trade controls, securities and accounting matters, and government contracts.

Mr. Wood's practice spans the full spectrum of compliance and dispute resolution, including helping corporations develop effective compliance programs, investigating allegations and evidence of misconduct, advocating before government agencies, litigating in court and post-resolution compliance monitoring. He has conducted numerous corporate internal investigations and represented clients before regulatory and law enforcement agencies. He has also assisted many companies in developing or enhancing their compliance programs and has worked on independent monitorships in matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the United Nations (UN). He has tried cases before juries, argued in U.S. courts of appeals and represented clients in international arbitration proceedings.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Wood served as senior investigative counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol. He conducted depositions and interviews of key witnesses, briefed and advised members of the committee, coordinated preparation of committee hearings and interviewed witnesses during a nationally televised hearing.

Previously, Mr. Wood worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he served as senior vice president, general counsel and chief legal officer for the nation's leading business association. In this role, he led the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, which files approximately 200 amicus briefs annually and litigates high-profile challenges to federal, state and local regulations on behalf of the business community.

In addition, Mr. Wood's work on behalf of clients is informed by his experience from a distinguished career in all three branches of the federal government. Mr. Wood served in numerous high-level executive branch positions, including U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), deputy associate attorney general, counselor to the U.S. Attorney General and deputy general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In these positions, he worked with nearly every federal government agency. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Wood was the chief federal law enforcement official for the Western District of Missouri, supervised a staff of 128 employees, oversaw a broad range of federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation, and represented the United States at trial and before the U.S. Court of Appeals. He led the largest corporate fraud and securities investigation in the history of the district, resulting in guilty pleas by the former CEO and CFO of a publicly traded company and a multimillion-dollar corporate fine.

Early in his legal career, Mr. Wood worked as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court as well as for the Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He also served as an aide to U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth of Missouri.

In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Wood is a frequent commentator regarding legal issues on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and Fox Business.