Governor Sonny Perdue Announces the Departure of Deputy Executive Counsel Robert Highsmith

ATLANTA, GA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that Deputy Executive Counsel Robert Highsmith will be returning to private law practice effective November 30, 2004.

“Robert’s knowledge of the law and his work on many of my legislative initiatives have been invaluable to my administration. His efforts on our ethics reform package have laid a firm foundation for its passage in 2005 by our new majorities in the General Assembly,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “I want to thank him for his advice and counsel. Although his day-to-day presence will be greatly missed, he will continue to be a trusted member of our team as he takes this next step in his career.”

Highsmith has served as Deputy Executive Counsel to Perdue since the Governor took office in January 2003. “For me, having toiled in Republican vineyards since before there was a single Republican constitutional officer, being the lawyer for Georgia’s first Republican Governor has been an extraordinarily fulfilling experience,” Highsmith said. “I appreciate the opportunity I have had to work for Governor Perdue and look forward to future situations where I can be of service to him and his administration.”

Before joining Perdue's Administration, Highsmith was associated with Holland & Knight LLP, practicing administrative and regulatory law, litigation, and government relations. In February of 2002, former Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes appointed Highsmith to a four-year term on the State Ethics Commission, a quasi-judicial body with statewide jurisdiction over ethical issues involving public officials, lobbyists, and state vendors. Highsmith is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, and the Atlanta Bar Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Yale University in 1995 and a J.D. from the University of Georgia in 1997.