February 21, 2023
Timothy Heaphy, Litigation partner and Co-Chair of the Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement Practice, was recently featured in a Q&A in The New York Times about his previous role as Chief Investigative Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate The January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.
In the article, Tim discusses the 18-month investigation at length, including the committee’s strategy, handling witnesses, the findings of the committee’s final report, and how the committee broke new ground. “The communications strategy was different than anything I’ve ever done in the grand jury and anything that had been done in Congress,” Tim explained. “...we needed to find ways to present our findings more visually, in shorter chunks, in a social media-fueled information landscape.”
Tim also covered how he handled criticisms of the committee’s investigation and his takeaways from the experience. “My main takeaway is how close we came. I grew up believing that our democratic systems are durable. I didn’t fully appreciate sometimes how fragile democracy is. But for the courage of a handful of people who elevated principle over politics, against their own self-interest, we could have had a different outcome,” Tim said. “We could have had the will of the people subverted. That’s frightening, and we can’t take it for granted.”
Tim joined Willkie in February 2023 alongside Soumya Dayananda, who also served as a member of the investigative team of the January 6 committee.
Read the press release announcing Tim and Soumya joining Willkie here.
Read the full New York Times Q&A here. (Subscription may be required)
