Riley W. Walters

Riley Walters joined Cooper & Kirk in 2026. Before joining the firm, he served at the U.S. Department of Justice as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Energy and Natural Resources Division. In that role, he helped manage the Division’s strategic and affirmative litigation, served as lead counsel in high-profile constitutional and Administrative Procedure Act challenges, and advised the White House Counsel’s Office and other Executive Branch components on litigation risk and strategy. He has argued appeals as well as emergency and dispositive motions in federal appellate and trial courts.

Before joining DOJ, Mr. Walters practiced as an associate at Jones Day in Washington, D.C. He clerked for Judge James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Carl J. Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Walters earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 2021, where he served on the University of Chicago Law Review and as a research assistant to Professor Richard A. Epstein. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science and economics, summa cum laude, from Belmont University in 2018. He is admitted to the District of Columbia and Tennessee bars.