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David Fugett

Biography

David Fugett serves as General Counsel for the University of West Florida. As general counsel, he provides legal guidance and counsel in executive and policy decision-making and serves as a member of the president’s senior leadership group; leads the Office of General Counsel and its team, as well as outside counsel retained to represent the university; oversees and manages the provision of all legal services to the University and Board of Trustees; provides counsel and guidance on all legal matters relevant to the University; and performs other duties as requested by the president and Board of Trustees.

David Fugett joins the University of West Florida with more than 25 years of legal experience. Fugett most recently served as the executive vice president for Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Polk State College. Prior to that, he served three years as vice president and general counsel at Florida Polytechnic University and four years as general counsel and pre-law advisor at New College of Florida. At New College, Fugett initiated the New College pre-law program and coached the inaugural moot court and mock trial inter-collegiate teams.

Prior to working in the state university system of Florida, Fugett gained valuable experience in state government as assistant attorney general and then chief litigation attorney and general counsel at the Florida Department of State. While at the Department of State, Fugett served as the chief ethics officer and provided advice and counsel to the Secretary of State and departmental managers on a broad range of administrative, legislative, and policy matters. This included oversight and representation on all departmental litigation. In this role, he had the privilege of working directly with attorneys for the Republic of France in a successful legal action in federal court to reclaim artifacts from salvage hunters taken from the wreck of a French military fleet sunk off the coast of Cape Canaveral by a  hurricane in 1565. This successful legal action led directly to the Republic of France and the State of Florida signing a declaration of intention outlining a historic partnership to research, protect and preserve the shipwreck site and all artifacts contained in it.

At the Office of the Florida Attorney General, Fugett served as assistant attorney general in the Complex Civil Enforcement Bureau. In this role, he worked with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state Attorney General offices around the nation prosecuting civil fraud cases throughout the United States, often as lead counsel for the state of Florida. 

In private practice, along with being retained by many of the largest insurance companies in the nation to represent their insureds,  Fugett directly represented large corporations in litigation throughout the state, including The Coca-Cola Company, Mercedes Benz USA, Cessna Aircraft Company and GEICO.

Throughout his career, Fugett has led various presentations, lectures and classes on subjects like ethics, advocacy, artificial intelligence, and election security. In 2024, Fugett was selected by the Florida News Service as an inaugural Impact Award winner, given to “exceptional leaders from across various sectors who are making a real difference in their communities.”

Fugett received his bachelor’s degree in communication from Toccoa Falls College and a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law.