District Attorney Jim Martin announced Jan. 3 that Gavin P. Holihan will join the office as the first assistant district attorney.

That position was previously held by Jeffrey S. Dimmig, who has returned to his duties as a chief deputy district attorney.

Holihan, a 1988 graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, is a 1991 graduate of Fordham University School of Law in New York.

He was an assistant district attorney in Lehigh County from 1992 through 1997.

From 1997 through 1999, he served as a Deputy Lehigh County Solicitor.

From 1999 through 2004, Holihan practiced in the firm of Huber and Waldron.

From 2007 through 2019, he was a part-time instructor at the Allentown Police Academy providing classroom instruction for cadets.

Holihan has practiced law as a sole practitioner at his firm, the Law Office of Gavin P. Holihan, from 2004 through January of this year and has tried many cases including six capital homicide trials in four counties.

He joined Lehigh County’s Office of the Public Defender in 2015 and has served as a part-time trial attorney there through the present.

Martin said he is very pleased to welcome Holihan as first assistant district attorney.

“This is the most important attorney position in the office. The first assistant acts as and for the district attorney when he is out of the jurisdiction, or otherwise unavailable. And, he would succeed the district attorney in the event of a vacancy in the office. Gavin has all of the qualities necessary and desirable to fulfill the responsibilities of this important position and I am confident he will perform his duties in an exemplary manner,” Martin said.