NASHVILLE – Under the provisions of federal statutes governing the filling of vacancies for the position of United States Attorney, Mark H. Wildasin was sworn in today by Chief U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, effective April 25, 2022. 28 U.S.C. § 546, and the Vacancies Reform Act, establish provisions for filling the position of U.S. Attorney, absent a nomination by the President and a Senate-confirmed appointment. Mr. Wildasin will remain the U.S. Attorney until the Senate confirms his successor.
Mr. Wildasin was previously appointed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to be the United States Attorney on December 26, 2021, after serving as the Acting United States Attorney since November 7, 2021. The appointment by the Attorney General expires on April 24, 2022.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee,” said U.S. Attorney Wildasin. “For the past 16 years I have had the distinct privilege of working alongside some of the nation’s most dedicated public servants and I look forward to continuing to lead this office in our mission of seeking justice for our citizens.”
Mr. Wildasin previously served as the Chief of the Civil Division in the United States Attorney’s Office since January 2006 and has been responsible for defending and prosecuting cases and managing all civil litigation in which the United States or one of its agencies is a party in the Middle District of Tennessee, including affirmative civil enforcement, defensive litigation, bankruptcy, asset forfeiture, immigration, and collections.
In addition to his work as the Civil Chief, from 2009 to 2011 and 2019 to 2021, Mr. Wildasin was appointed to the Civil Chiefs’ Working Group, which advises and reports to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on issues relevant to Civil Assistant United States Attorneys throughout the country.
Mr. Wildasin was a member of the Standby Component of the State Department’s Civilian Response Corps (CRC) from 2009 to 2011. The CRC was created to implement the United States’ whole of government approach to stabilization and reconstruction missions. As a CRC Standby member, Mr. Wildasin obtained training in stabilization and conflict resolution to support security and justice in host nations emerging from conflict.
From October 2011 through September 2012, Mr. Wildasin was detailed through the Office of the Deputy Attorney General as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of the Justice Attaché in the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, to work on Rule of Law issues, including assisting in the prosecution of terror suspects in U.S. interest cases, training Iraqi judges and police inspectors on the newly enacted anti-Human Trafficking Law, working on land reform issues, and otherwise liaising with the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, Iraqi judiciary, and European Union counterparts.
Mr. Wildasin is a graduate of Duke University and Vanderbilt University School of Law. Immediately after law school, he was a law clerk for United States District Judge Thomas A. Higgins in the Middle District of Tennessee. Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Wildasin practiced law in San Francisco with Coudert Brothers and in Nashville with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.
He previously served as the Attorney General appointed United States Attorney in 2017.
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