David Dove

David B. Dove currently serves as Governor Brian Kemp’s Executive Counsel. Dove also serves as one of four Georgia commissioners for the Uniform Law Commission where he was appointed to the special committee on Public Health Emergency Authorities. He serves as a member of the Georgia Coronavirus Fraud Task Force, the Georgia Jobs and Water and Sewer Infrastructure Committee, and is an ex-officio member of the Jasper Ocean Terminal Commission. He has also recently been appointed by the Georgia Board of Natural Resources to serve as Interim Director of the Georgia Environmental Resources Division.

As Executive Counsel, Dove has worked with the Attorney General’s office to secure landmark victories in the Tri-State Water Wars, namely in In Re ACF Basin and in the 9-0 decision at the Supreme Court of the United States in Florida v. Georgia. He has also marshaled Governor Kemp’s appointments, resulting in the most diverse group of judicial appointments in Georgia history which included four Supreme Court Justices, five Judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals, and nearly a quarter of all sitting trial court judges in Georgia. Likewise, he has worked with Governor Kemp to increase the representation of women and minorities on executive branch boards and commissions, growing their representation by more than tenfold since 2019.

Overseeing the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Dove and the attorneys on his staff drafted over one hundred executive orders creating the regulations and parameters for Georgia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also serves as the principal compliance attorney for over $9 billion of federal grants currently being administered through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan.

In his role as Executive Counsel, Dove manages the Office of State Inspector General, responsible for investigating fraud, waste, and abuse in state agencies, which has recovered over $30 million during his tenure. Dove has helped navigate the Office of the Governor through two senior staff transitions, three Congressional investigations, a rewrite of state professional licensing regulations, the 2020 Presidential Election, and over 800 days with the State under a state of emergency while managing over five dozen outside counsel.

Prior to working in the Kemp administration, Dove served as Director of Brian Kemp’s Gubernatorial Transition Committee and as an attorney with Robbins Alloy Belinfante Littlefield, LLC in Atlanta.  At Robbins his administrative law and business litigation practice focused on regulated industries, nonprofits, municipal law, campaign finance, and constitutional law.  He was also a founding member of Robbins Government Relations.

Prior to joining Robbins, Dove served as Chief of Staff & Legal Counsel to then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp.  Dove also clerked for Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs.  Dove has been a featured speaker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the State Bar of Georgia, the Georgia Municipal Association, and a keynote speaker for the United States Elections Assistance Commission Standards Board.

Dove remains engaged with the University of Georgia where he earned his B.A. and J.D.  He serves on the Young Alumni Leadership Council for the University, the University of Georgia Law School Alumni Council, and as Chairman of the School of Public & International Affairs’ Alumni Board.  While a student at Georgia, Dove was a University Council member, served as Research Assistant to Law School Associate Dean Lori Ringhand, was elected Student Bar Association President, and was named a University “Amazing Student.”  Dove was also honored by election to two honor societies – Blue Key and the Order of Barristers – and in 2019 was selected as a recipient of UGA’s 40 Under 40 alumni award.

Professionally, Dove has four times been named one of Georgia’s Top Lawyers by James Magazine; named an attorney “On the Rise” by the Fulton County Daily Report in 2020; is a delegation member of the American Council of Young Political Leaders; and serves on the Executive Board of the Atlanta Chapter of the Federalist Society. Dove has selected as a Barrister in the Clarke-Carley Inn of Court, a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2020. 

Originally from Athens, Georgia, Dove and his family now live in Marietta, where he served as Chairman of the City’s Ethics Committee from 2017-2019.  He is married to Courtney and has two sons, Tucker and Wells.  He is actively engaged in the community through the hospitality team at Riverstone Church.