Former Boston AUSA Bill Abely Joins Litson as Partner; Firm Opens Third Office

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 22, 2026) — Bill Abely has joined Litson PLLC as a partner. Until this month, he ran the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He is the sixth former federal prosecutor at Litson, a boutique that handles federal criminal defense and white-collar cases nationally. He will work out of the firm’s new Boston office on federal criminal defense, government investigations, and civil litigation.

“When you have supervised 100 prosecutors, you have seen every way a case gets built and every way it falls apart,” said Alex Little, Litson’s managing partner. “Bill brings that judgment to our clients, and the credibility of someone who ran one of the busiest criminal divisions in the country. We are glad to have him on our side.”

Abely was a federal prosecutor for 14 years in two districts. He joined the Massachusetts office in 2016, led its Major Crimes Unit, and became Chief of the Criminal Division in 2021. In that position, he oversaw all federal criminal prosecutions in Massachusetts and managed prosecutors and staff in nine units and two branch offices. The office’s criminal docket during his tenure included prosecutions involving national security, public corruption, health care fraud, investment fraud, and violent criminal organizations.

From 2012 to 2016, Abely was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Nashville’s White Collar and Economic Crime Unit, where he worked alongside Litson partners Alex Little and Brent Hannafan. He prosecuted executives for wire, bank, tax, and securities fraud, public employees for bribery and fraud, and medical providers for health care fraud and kickbacks. He tried 12 cases, nine of them to juries, and handled appeals in the Sixth Circuit.

He began his legal career at Ropes & Gray in Boston, where he spent eight years as a litigation associate representing individuals and corporations in state and federal investigations. He graduated cum laude from Harvard College and earned his law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law.

“For years, my job was to guide prosecutions and decide when charges were, and were not, appropriate,” Abely said. “I know what a strong case looks like from the inside, and I know what a weak one looks like, too. I’m looking forward to putting that judgment to work for clients at Litson, and to practicing again with lawyers I first met in the Nashville U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

The Boston office is Litson’s first outside Tennessee.

Litson PLLC is a litigation firm with offices in Nashville, Knoxville, and Boston. It handles federal criminal defense, white-collar investigations, regulatory enforcement, civil litigation, and appeals. Founded in 2024, the firm is built around lawyers who tried cases as federal prosecutors. It has been recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers, and Super Lawyers.