Today, Governor Brian Kemp announced that William S. Duffey, Jr. has been appointed as the new Chair of the State Elections Board.
“Judge Duffey has been involved in complex litigation for decades, both as a lawyer and a judge,” said Governor Kemp. “Through his vast experience, he has established himself as a man of integrity who will uphold the highest ethical standards in his application of the laws of our state and nation. I am confident Judge Duffey will be a great asset to our state and help ensure our elections are secure, accessible, and fair.”
“I have dedicated my career to serving others to seek fair and just results in legal matters,” said Judge Duffey “Our democracy is founded on citizens participating in the process to elect those who govern them. I am committed to working with my colleagues on the State Elections Board to perform our duty to protect the integrity of the election process because every Georgia voter is entitled to know their vote is secure and that it counts.”
William S. Duffey, Jr. retired in 2018 from active service as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia. From 2001 to 2004, before assuming the federal bench, Judge Duffey served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. As United States Attorney, he was responsible for prosecution of federal crimes, for civil actions filed by and against the United States government, and he led the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Taskforce.
Before his appointment as United States Attorney, Judge Duffey was a partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta. He was elected as a partner in 1987. From 1994 to 1995, Judge Duffey left private practice to serve as Deputy Independent Counsel in charge of the Arkansas phase of the Whitewater investigation. He rejoined King & Spalding as a partner following government service. At King & Spalding, Judge Duffey’s practice included complex civil and criminal litigation, focusing on trade secret, corporate espionage, and fraud matters. He also had a substantial internal corporate investigations practice, including the investigation of EF Hutton’s plea of guilty to mail and wire fraud arising from its banking practices, responsibility for the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and the Florida Attorney General’s investigation into Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph’s retail sales practices.
An honors graduate of Drake University in 1973, Judge Duffey received his J.D., cum laude in 1977 from the University of South Carolina Law School.
Judge Duffey served in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps from 1978-1981 as a Circuit Trial Counsel, and as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate to the United States Logistics Group in Ankara, Turkey.
Judge Duffey has served in a variety of assignments that focused on ethics and integrity. In 2019, he served as a member of the City of Atlanta Task Force on the Promotion of Public Trust. In 2016, Judge Duffey represented the United Department of State at a conference on Human Trafficking and Organized Crime convened by Pope Francis at the Vatican. From 2008 to 2015, Judge Duffey represented the United States judiciary on nine trips to Ukraine to make presentations to Ukrainian judges and government officials on the requirement of ethical conduct as the foundation of an independent judiciary in a democracy. At King & Spalding, Judge Duffey’s practice included ethics counseling, including state and local elected officials’ compliance with state ethics requirements. While on the court, Judge Duffey served as President of the Eleven Circuit Judges Association, served on the Eleventh Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions Committee, and was a member of the Georgia Supreme Court’s Commission on Civil Justice.
A frequent presenter at legal conferences and seminars on professionalism, in 2022, Judge Duffey’s book “The Significant Lawyer: The Pursuit of Purpose and Professionalism” was published. His published works also include:
- William S. Duffey, Jr. and Richard A. Schneider, A Life in the Law: Advice for Young Lawyers, ABA Publications (2009) (author and editor)
- “Corporate Fraud and Accountability: A Primer on Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,” South Carolina Law Review (2002)
- “Competitive Information Collection: Avoiding Legal Land Mines,” Competitive Intelligence Review, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Judge Duffey has been active in the community, including as former Chair of the Atlanta Track Club Board of Directors, founder of the Center for Young Adult Addition and Recovery at Kennesaw State University and past Chair of its Board of Directors, and as a member of the Atlanta Foundation Grants Committee.
Judge Duffey is married to Betsy Byars Duffey, an author of children’s and adult books. They live in Atlanta and Clarkesville, Georgia.
Daniel Cassidy
June 23, 2022 at 8:21 pm
To the Honorable William S. Duffy. Your honor you served as one of the Judge’s in the Wright Medical Technology and the attorneys representing the 2007 people that were damaged by the metal on metal hip replacements.I had the hip put in in 2006 and by 2011 it was so loose that it would drop an inch and a half longer than the other leg. After testing it was determined that the hip had to be replaced. I started going through the pre-op tests where it was determined that I was missing over half of my blood and I was taken from the Doctors office to the hospital by ambulance and received 6 units of blood and they spent 4days in the hospital and they were not able to find where the blood was coming from. I had dried blood in the lower half of both legs that could be the reason or it could have been my colon.I was told that I had to get signatures from 5 specialist to state that it was safe to do the surgery. Keep in mind that I was only able to get around with crutches or at home with a cane and any long distance I was in an electric wheelchair. It took me two years to get in and see all 5 specialist and the whole time my hip was getting looser to the point that I developed a large lump on the left side of my back and it hurt. The five Doctors finally signed off although the heart specialist said someone still needs to find out where the blood was from and one of the other specialist put a note stating that he did not know why someone had not biopsies the lession that had been found on th leg because it could also be part of the problem. My primary Doctor said that he could not sign off on it because of the comments. My back was hurting bad and when they put me on a traction table it almost completely got rid of the lump and the pain. The back started bending again and the surgeons told me that they would do the surgery if I agreed to do it with blood on standby and I agreed. I went in for the surgery in 2015 3 years after we knew that it was bad. However I walked into the surgery on my dislocated left hip and I could walk normally but after the surgery my legs were 1.5 inches different in length. It was determined after a year that it was getting worse and it still needed work. The Doctor that did the first two said that he was not good enough to do anything but amputate my leg so I needed to find a revision specialist and I had to take my insurance to court to use the traction table because they didn’t have one so they had to send me out of the group. They said no and after maximus backed them up I took them to federal court under Judge Wilt in Los Angeles and she got angry with the insurance company and said she was finding in my favor with extreme prejudice and said that I should be using the traction immediately. I did and it worked again but only temporarily because my hip was still popping in and out. I saw or talked to 9 orthopedic Doctors and none of them wanted to get involved. When I signed up with Pope,McGlamery I was turned over to a paralegal named Larry Diamond and I called him after every call or Doctor that turned me down or making sure he knew where to get over 500 to 1000 pieces of paperwork such as surgical notes, Doctor notes, exrays,etc.. and every time I talked to anyone I called my special Case Manager that had been assigned to me in 2012 when the surgeries were going bad and every time I talked to the attorneys or Larry the PL.and reported to her exactly what was covered. So when I looked back at my phone bills you could follow exactly what happened. Mr.Diamond sent me a letter stating that the board that was appointed by you to determine injuries had come back saying that the board had determined that the fault for the second and third replacements were the surgeons that did them. I called Mr Pope right away and he told me that he sent no such letter and the reason that the second and third replacements were not covered was because the second one was two months past the time frame and the third one was 2 years after the time frame but he was pretty sure that he could get the second one covered in the EIF portion of the trial.I called Larry Diamond the paralegal and asked if he could send me a copy of the agreement between Wright Medical Technology and the attorneys that represented us and he did. I read it immediately and not only was the time limit not 8 years as I had been told but rather ten years which automatically covered 2 the very next section stated that if anyone had other illnesses or problems that made it impossible to do the surgeries the time frame went out the window completely. That meant that all three of mine should have counted. When I called Mr Pope about the letter blaming the doctors he told me that he had not sent that to me Larry had done it by mistake and he would no longer be working with me,I would not be surprised if he was fired and I would also bet that I was not the only one that received a letter like that but not many other people were Lt. Firefighter Paramedic for 10 years and then VP of Business Development for one of the fastest growing health care providers in Southern California and I was one of the best in California. The other big lie was told to all 2007 of us that were being represented by Pope,McGlamery as they said the time frame was 8 years and not what it really was which was Ten years and if thier was a health issue the time frame no longer applied. They lied to 2007 clients assuming they all got the same agreement. Or anyone like me that had to have there surgeries delayed for over the time frame should have been paid too. After Larry Diamond sent me the agreement between Wright Medical Technology and our attorneys and I found out about the time frame not counting I called Mr Pope several months ago and when he found out that I had been sent the agreement stating that the time frame disappeared if I was sick and it delayed my revisions he stayed on the phone with me for 1 hour and 13 minutes and he had never given me 15 minutes he said that I was right by at least one and probably both. He told me that he would talk to the other attorneys and call me the following week and let me know if I should be paid. One other call that I forgot. When we could not find a Doctor to do it a forth time I called Mr Pope because I remembered that the Doctor, Dr Penenberg that had proven the case was here and he said that I could call if I wanted. I called and they said yes they would see me but it was very expensive. I called Mr Pope to see what to do and he said that I should tell my insurance and they would pay for it. My insurance company said no that they were still looking and gave me the name of a Doctor that had already said no. I appealed that through Maximus and they backed My insurance so again I appealed it to federal court and again I got Judge Wilt who again was angry and told the Medical Director at my insurance company and again found in my favor with extreme prejudice and gave them one week to get me in to surgery.One week later I was having surgery. The surgeon that did the first two had told me that he would talk to the other specialist and let him know to put a retaining pin in the would keep it from disllocating. He said that they never talked so instead of putting in the retaining piece he did another full revision with nothing holding it in place. I can’t do anything about that because the next time I have surgery I will have to have my leg taken. There is not enough bone to do anything else. I talked to Mr Pope like I said for over one hour and that is when he said he would talk to the partners and promised to call me with an answer in one week. He sent me a letter saying that it was nice doing business with me and will not take my calls. I have kept careful record of everything even phone calls because every time I talked to them I talked to my insurance company and Doctors. My father was alive for my first two surgeries,I moved in with him and my mom because they were very sick. I took care of them until they died. My father was not impressed with these attorneys even though he was only there in the beginning. I had never sued anyone till then and certainly not class action. My father was Mr John Robbert Cassidy one of the best Patent Attorneys in the world. He was even picked by the government when I was young to set up the patent system so it worked everywhere. He also wrote the lemon law and spent most of the last 20 years of his career working for the government and Boeing. He actually patented the AWACS I know because I had to drive them down to the base escorted to drop off paperwork. I know you retired in2018 and I am very sorry for bothering you but Pope was chuckling at me when he said if I could afford to fly to Georgia to sue him because that is what I would have to do. I would have to get a Georgia attorney and that is weather I go into arbitration or sue them for legal malpractice. I don’t know when I am able to show the agreements to an attorney. My my Dad’s old partner talked to me he asked me if I was OK with the real agreement with the ten year time frame and the elimination of it completely due to other illness. He told me to leave Wright Medical Technology out of it and just sue the Attorneys for legal malpractice but yes I would probably have to get an attorney in Georgia. He said that I should try to contact you or the other Judge that was appointed here in California the Honorable Judge Jane Johnson but it sounded like you were the lead. Please contact me or let me know what I can do as I am completely disabled and can not walk without assistance. I have an attorney in Mr Pope that has been lying to me and many,2007 other people. Now he just stopped taking his calls. One of the girls on their answering service told me that he had no intention on returning or taking any of my calls. I got a settlement of $140,000.00 of which I got a little over 75,000.00. They got 40% of my $140,000.00 to talk to me on the phone for a couple of hours. I gave them the name’s of at least 20 doctors and I asked them to show me what they showed the board that determined the EIFs and it was less than 100 pages. I have close to 1000 and they didn’t give them any information about my illness and loss of blood that put off the surgery. They are laughing at me literally. Please help me. I am in Southern California about 60 miles from downtown. If there is any way that you can send a copy of this to Judge Johnson who I know is also retired. I have spent my life at service to other people and raising my daughter alone since she was three and she graduated from one of the best private schools in the country in 3.5 years she received 2 BAs and an invitation to Harvard for her PHD. Please find a way to help me. On our last phone call I told Mr Pope that I had just been diagnosed with leukemia and was in very bad shape. I had 15 surgeries in the time I was with Pope and McGlamery and they started laughing a couple of months ago and now they and there employees will not even answer the phone. I know that you are retired but I took care of my family until they died even my two brothers. You can reach me at 951 795 1497 anytime. Please find a way to help me. These attorneys made a fortune.
Thank You,
Daniel Cassidy 951 795 1497