A former associate counsel to former President George W. Bush has joined a Honolulu law firm.

Michael M. Purpura joined Carlsmith Ball as a partner in the firm's Honolulu office.

Purpura has practiced in the areas of criminal, civil, regulatory and appellate litigation, and will provide strategic counsel and crisis management to the firm's clients.

Purpura most recently served as associate counsel to the president, representing the White House in congressional investigations and other matters, as well as providing legal advice for both the president and White House officials.

Purpura has also worked as a federal prosecutor in New York City, Honolulu, and Washington, D.C.

Immediately before joining the White House, Purpura served as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he assisted counterterrorism and counterespionage investigations.

Purpura, a graduate of West Point and Columbia Law School, was stationed at Schofield Barracks while in the Army and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Hawai'i district office under Ed Kubo.

While an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Purpura led the investigation and prosecution of Iraqi Intelligence Service agents who operated in the U.S. and obtained convictions of multiple members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family.

In Honolulu, he led the investigation and conviction of Dalton Tanonaka, a former congressional candidate, of campaign financing charges, and of Thermal Engineering Co. for filing false tax returns in connection with activity that violated Hawai'i's campaign spending laws. A native of West Virginia, Purpura currently resides in Honolulu with his wife, the former Betsy Somerville, and their daughter, Kate.

Purpura is not yet licensed to practice law in Hawai'i.