Frank B. Atkinson

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Practices
Industries
Education
  • University of Virginia School of Law, JD, Order of the Coif, Member, Virginia Law Review, 1982
  • University of Richmond, BA, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1979
Admissions
  • Virginia
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
Affiliations

Member, Virginia Bar Association

Member, Federalist Society

Member, Republican National Lawyers Association

Member, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Board of Trustees

Member, Mercatus Center Board of Directors, George Mason University

Member, Batten School Foundation Board of Directors, University of Virginia

Member, Center for Politics Board of Advisors, University of Virginia

Member, Virginia Business Higher Education Council

Member, 2019 Commemoration, Inc. Board of Directors

Member, Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2012-2016

Chairman, Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission, 2003-2008

Senior Advisor, Gov. Bob McDonnell Transition, 2008-2009

Member, Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education, 1998-2000

Member, Governor's Steering Committee on Virginia's Economic Development Strategy, 1998-1999

Counselor to the Governor and Director of Policy, Gov. George Allen, 1994-1996

Special Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, 1987-1988.

Special Assistant, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1982-1984

Frank is chairman of McGuireWoods Consulting LLC and a partner with McGuireWoods LLP. As a lawyer and consultant, he counsels business and governmental entities on a range of strategic and policy issues. His practice includes government relations and public affairs, higher education, public-private partnerships, and economic development.

Frank joined McGuireWoods in 1984, practicing in the area of commercial and constitutional litigation. He left the firm for several periods of public service, including positions in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan and service as legal counsel and policy director in the cabinet of Virginia Governor George Allen.

In 1998, Frank was a principal founder of McGuireWoods Consulting, which today provides a full range of public affairs services to clients in state capitals, Washington, D.C., and Europe. In that role he has helped shape innovative public policy in Virginia related to higher education, public-private partnerships, and economic development. He led the Virginia Business Higher Education Council’s “Grow By Degrees” and “GO Virginia” campaigns—the former promoting reform-based reinvestment in Virginia’s college and universities, and the latter supporting regional public-private collaboration on economic and workforce development.

A frequent lecturer on government and politics, Frank is the author of two books on modern Virginia politics—"The Dynamic Dominion" (1992) and "Virginia in the Vanguard" (2006)—that are used as college-level texts.

He currently serves on the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Board of Trustees, the Batten School Foundation Board of Directors at the University of Virginia, the Mercatus Center Board of Directors at George Mason University, and the advisory board for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Other recent public service includes service on the University of Virginia Board of Visitors and chairmanship of the federal Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission.

In the News

Frank B Atkinson
vCard
T: +1 804 775 4376F: +1 804 698 2226Gateway Plaza
800 East Canal Street
Richmond, VA 23219-3916

Developed and managed the "Grow By Degrees" campaign of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, an ongoing initiative commenced in 2008 to highlight higher education's crucial positive impact on economic growth and to promote sustained reform and reinvestment in Virginia's higher education system.

Provided strategic advice and representation to leading Virginia universities on a range of critical issues, including restructuring the relationship between higher education institutions and the Commonwealth of Virginia, capital outlay, research, operational funding, strategic planning and technology-enhanced instruction.

Helped design and implement Virginia's widely acclaimed public-private partnership laws, and assisted business clients in developing successful public-private partnership proposals.

Active in development and promotion of Virginia heritage tourism sites, including playing a key leadership role in federal and state programs for "America's 400th Anniversary," the successful international commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement in America at Jamestown.

Assists clients on public policy issues ranging from higher education, infrastructure development and tourism to energy, healthcare, transportation and economic development.

Named to "Legal Elite," Legislative, Regulatory and Administrative, Virginia Business, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015

Named to “Virginia Super Lawyers,” Government Relations, Schools and Education, Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2012-2015

Author, Virginia in the Vanguard: Political Leadership in the 400-Year-Old Cradle of American Democracy, 1981-2006, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2006
Author, The Dynamic Dominion: Replacement and the Rise of Two-Party Competition in Virginia, 1945-1980, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 1992; revised second edition 2006