By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Williston City Council members recently hired a Gainesville law firm with extensive experience in local government represented by a diverse team of attorneys that can advise the city in any situation.
Allison E. Folds, senior partner of Folds, Walker, LLC, has 52 years of experience in civil litigation with a focus on family law and commercial litigation. He is the senior partner in the firm.
Folds won’t be representing Williston in council meetings, but he has yet to miss a meeting since the company was hired. He is the former city attorney for the municipalities of Waldo, Newberry, Alachua, Hawthorne, Trenton, Cedar Key, Micanopy, and McIntosh, FL.
Scott Walker, is managing partner for Folds, Walker, LLC., is representing Williston in council meetings. His main area of practice is civil litigation with a focus on family law, commercial litigation, and land use litigation.
Walker has served as Newberry’s city attorney for the past 35 years, the City of High Springs attorney since 2012, the City of Archer’s attorney since 2013, the Town of Micanopy 1994-2006.
David Wagner focuses primarily on local government law. He has spent 21 years working as an attorney for Alachua County, serving as County Attorney for the last 15 years. He served for 10 years in the U.S. Army as an artillery officer with service in Vietnam; criminal prosecutor, associate professor at the Army’s Judge Advocate School; Administrative Law in Berlin, Germany; and as Medical Malpractice Claims manager for the Army.
He graduated from the College of Law in Gainesville, FL in 1978 with honors. He earned his Bachelor’ Degree at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Andrea True Parker focuses primarily in the areas of family and local government law. In 2015, the Family Law section of the Virginia Bar awarded Parker the Family Law Award, recognizing her work in family law. She also served as a judicial clerk for Judge Daniel Wilensky in Clay County, FL.
She is presently president-elect for the Eighth Judicial Circuit’s Young Lawyers Division. She was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL. She originally moved to Gainesville for college in 2008, and after a few years away from Gainesville, she moved back in 2017. She earned a law degree from the University of Richmond, at the T.C. Williams School of Law.
Alison Walker focuses her practice primarily in the field of family law, probate, guardianships, and estate planning. She is actively involved in the legal community, serving as former Secretary/Treasurer for the Young Lawyers Division of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association. She was born and raised in Gainesville.
She graduated from the University of Florida in 2000 with Bachelor’s Degree in business administration, earning honors, and graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in 2005 earning honors: Cum Laude.
Clay Martin has 27 years of experience in law, public policy, and government service. His experiences have varied from assisting a non-profit secure public funds to serve the needy, to being a part of the legal team engaged in complex commercial litigation.
He has worked in all levels of government, local, state, and federal and in all three branches of government – as a senior congressional staffer, a senior policy aid to a member of the Florida Cabinet, and as an officer of the court in the judicial system.
Martin is a sixth-generation Alachua County native. He attended Alachua County public schools, Santa Fe College, and the University of Florida. He graduated in 1997 from the University of Florida College of Law.
Scott Whitaker has represented clients in numerous areas of law, including business and corporate, family and child, organizational and institutional strategic planning and has been thoroughly involved in the field of sports law. He has counseled head coaches in NCAA football, baseball and basketball, NFL and MLB as well assistant coaches, team administrators, and players.
He is also a coach, mentor, consultant, and pastor with a passion for helping individuals and organizations address issues and assist with change and development to reach their potential. As a former CEO, teacher of math and business law, associate pastor, and UF baseball coach, Whitaker’s leadership and mentoring experiences provide clients with a unique perspective on the law.
Whitaker graduated from the University of Florida College of Law with honors. He graduated from the University of South Florida in 1972 with Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1996.
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City of Williston Regular Meeting August 24, 2021; Posted September 6, 2021