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A path that started with a love of government contract litigation led Knox County native Garrett Ressing to his current career as Acting General Counsel for the U.S. Navy.
MOUNT VERNON— It was never Garrett Ressing’s plan to one day work at the Pentagon. He grew up the son of a lawyer in small-town Ohio. When he graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1983, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do.
“I was headed off to college and my main goal was to graduate and get a job,” said Ressing.
He entered Miami University as a computer science major, but later switched his focus to business.
After his second year at Capital University Law School, he landed a summer internship in Washington, D.C. defending contract appeals with the Department of the Army’s litigation branch.
“While I studied contracts in law school, government contract litigation was a whole new world and sparked my interest in practicing in that area of law,” Ressing recalled.
During his third year of law school, he accepted an offer to work as a litigator with a different branch of the military. Thus began a long and exciting career with the Department of the Navy. After graduating from law school in the spring of 1990, he moved back to Washington, D.C. for a new position in construction contract litigation.
It was a whirlwind of change for the brand new attorney.
“Two days after I was sworn into the Ohio State Bar, I found myself in a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, as the sole government attorney defending a claim against the government and asserting a government counterclaim, with expert witnesses and a large piece of burnt electrical cable as evidence,” said Ressing. “Needless to say, it was baptism by fire, but I ended up winning the case and still have the framed decision on the wall in my office.”
Ressing remembers experiencing culture shock when he moved to Washington, D.C. The cost of living was high, the traffic was insane and the people around him were accustomed to a fast-paced lifestyle. Nevertheless, Ressing made his home in the nation's capital. Since then, he has climbed the ladder of leadership and responsibility within the Department of the Navy’s Office of General Counsel, which is made up of civilian government attorneys responsible for advising the Navy and Marine Corps on legal matters. His most recent promotion occurred March 7, 2019, when he became Acting General Counsel. He was appointed by the president as a temporary official.
"As the Principal Deputy General Counsel, I am currently performing the duties of the General Counsel until such time as a General Counsel is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate,” said Ressing.
In this position, he is considered the chief legal officer of the Department of the Navy and head of the Office of the General Counsel, which consists of nearly 1,000 employees in 147 locations around the world. He regularly provides legal counsel to the secretary of the Navy, the undersecretary of the Navy, the assistant secretaries of the Navy, and other senior staff. Staying up-to-date on various types of law is crucial to the position.
“I provide advice on acquisitions, such as the new multi-billion dollar aircraft carrier, as well as business and commercial law, real estate transactions, intellectual property law, fiscal law, civilian personnel and labor law, environmental law, standards of conduct and ethics, intelligence law, and cyber law,” said Ressing. “Needless to say, I am never bored. Every day I come to work with a plan on what I intend to accomplish, and every day a new emergent issue arises that requires my immediate attention.”
Ressing’s ascent through the ranks in Washington was not his original goal, but he has no regrets about his choice to pursue a life in civil service.
“When I left law school, I thought I would eventually return to Ohio and never dreamed I would have the opportunity to work in the Pentagon,” said Ressing. “I have found it to be an incredibly satisfying experience and, if I had it to do all over again, I would not change anything.”
That being said, Mount Vernon still holds a special place in Ressing’s heart.
“I get back to Knox County every year and I am always reminded how friendly people are and what a great place it was to grow up,” he said. “Once a year, I get together with my friends from elementary school. We do something different every year. When I turned 50, we hiked the Grand Canyon together. I still consider this group to be my closest friends and we all met growing up in Knox County.”
Ressing found his passion through experience. He encourages young people considering a life of civil service to do the same.
“My advice is to work hard in school and at work because that is the first thing any potential employer is going to consider,” he said. “You should talk to people currently serving in government positions so you understand the mission of the government organization and where you might enjoy working. Once you know where you may want to work, you need to figure out what skills you need to do the job and try to get experience that shows you have those skills.”
Ressing added that government work isn’t one size fits all — there are opportunities for workers in almost every occupational field at the local, state, and federal levels.
“Working as a civil servant allows you to give back to your community. This is true whether you are working in the military, the Peace Corps, or as part of a local government,” he said. “I encourage all young people to consider public service.”
