Hard-working, highly organized, extremely knowledgeable, disciplined, and experienced, all are attributes of William (“Bill”) Blevins who served as the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for Eastern District of Louisiana (“EDLA”) from May, 2013, when he was selected to be the Clerk following the retirement of Loretta Whyte, until January, 2020. During his over six and one-half year tenure in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Bill’s leadership and skilled management moved the Clerk’s Office forward in such diverse areas as Information Technology/Systems, Financial Administration and Budget, Shared Administrative Services, and Operations. He worked with three Chief Judges in the Eastern District of Louisiana, including current Chief Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown, who became Chief Judge in 2018, District Judge Sarah S. Vance who served as Chief Judge from 2008 to 2015, and who was serving as Chief Judge when Bill was appointed Clerk of Court in 2013, and Circuit Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, formerly EDLA District Judge and EDLA Chief Judge from 2015 to 2018.
During Bill’s long and distinguished career with the Judiciary, he has served as the Chief Deputy Clerk for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, and for the twelve years preceding his term in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, and former resident of Richmond, Virginia, Bill earned both a B.A. and an M.B.A. from the University of Richmond. Bill and his wife, Malinda, have four adult children. On January 6, 2020, Bill returned home to Richmond, Virginia, where many members of his and his wife’s family reside, to serve as the Chief Deputy Clerk of Operations for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Bill shepherded to successful completion an astonishing number of updates, upgrades, new projects, initiatives, transitions and changes, touching virtually every unit in the operations, technological, and administrative areas of the office. He was responsive to the requests and needs of the judges but also implemented programs to meet staff needs. He provided superb mentoring and advice to his staff and deeply cared about the court and doing the very best job that he could. He and his family became true New Orleanians, participating fully in the unique culture of our city. We wish him the very best as he and Malinda move back home to Virginia. He will be sorely missed.
(*A full length version of this article is featured in the current (Winter 2020, Vol. 29, No. 2) issue of the New Chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s Advocate.)
Release Date:
Tuesday, January 21, 2020