Mayor Jim Ferrell selected Ryan Call to become Federal Way’s next city attorney, Thursday. Call has worked for the city of Federal Way since 2008.

Call has served as a city prosecutor, assistant city attorney and for the last nine months as acting city attorney.

“Ryan has a solid legal mind and is the right choice to be our city attorney,” Ferrell said in a press release. “He has performed his duties as acting city attorney well and has my confidence and the experience to be a really fine city attorney. In addition to his service to the people of our city, Ryan is a veteran of the United States Navy and served our country in Afghanistan. He’s an invaluable asset to my administration, and I look forward to the City Council’s swift confirmation next week.”

Call is a graduate of Brigham Young University, holding a bachelor’s degree in Japanese and a juris doctorate from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark school of law. Upon completion of his studies and admission to the Washington State Bar, Ryan served from 2003-07 as an officer in the United States Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

His first naval assignment was at bases in Kitsap County, where he was responsible for the prosecution of misdemeanor and felony-level criminal offenses committed by Navy personnel. From 2004-07, Call served as the staff judge advocate for the U.S. Naval Air Facility in Atsugi, Japan, where he was a department head in charge of the legal and claims departments and the sole legal advisor to the base commander. His last assignment saw him serve as the military equivalent to a city attorney.

Call left active duty military service in 2007 and shortly thereafter joined the city of Federal Way as a city prosecutor. In 2010, as a member of the U.S. Navy Reserves, he was mobilized to active duty for a year and a half, during which time he worked as a legal adviser to the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Task Force at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and then was seconded to Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 for duty in Afghanistan for six months.

In addition to selecting Call as city attorney, Ferrell agreed to appoint Mark Orthmann as deputy city attorney at Call’s recommendation.

Upon his confirmation, Call will work with the human resources team to begin the search for a new assistant city attorney.