Joseph H. “Jody” Hunt '82 came to Samford University as its General Counsel on March 1, 2023. Hunt, who was co-valedictorian of his class at Samford, received his Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Howard College of Arts and Sciences. He went on to earn a master of arts from Florida State University in 1984 and his juris doctor from Columbia University Law School in 1989.

Most recently, Hunt was a member of Alston & Bird’s Litigation Group, having joined the law firm in 2020. Prior to that, he served as assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice where he led its Civil Division. As head of the division, which operates as the government’s law firm and is the Department of Justice’s largest litigating component, he oversaw a team of more than 1,000 lawyers representing federal agencies and administrative policies in litigation at the trial level. He also served as chief of staff to the attorney general in 2017.

He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice for 21 years, serving under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Before he was appointed as assistant attorney general, Hunt was the director of the Civil Division’s Federal Programs Branch, where he supervised the government’s efforts on high-profile litigation matters involving national security, constitutional challenges, agency rulemaking, government information, congressional oversight, and foreign affairs.

Hunt worked in private practice from 1990 to 1999 and was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge James H. Hancock of the Northern District of Alabama.