Law firms stock up on Biden-era US attorneys

By David Thomas

March 4 (Reuters) - At least six former U.S. attorneys who served during the Democratic Biden administration took new jobs at private law firms this week, including the former top federal prosecutors in Boston and Houston.

Joshua Levy, the former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, will rejoin Ropes & Gray as a partner on March 31 after resigning ahead of Republican President Donald Trump's return to office, the law firm said Tuesday.

Under Levy's supervision, the U.S. attorney's office pursued charges against the operators of a high-end brothel network whose customers included elected officials, corporate executives and lawyers, and helped obtain a $650 million deferred prosecution agreement with McKinsey & Co over its role in the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Also on Tuesday, Houston-founded law firm Bracewell said it hired Alamdar Hamdani, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas under Biden.

Hamdani brought criminal charges against a Texas doctor and self-described whistleblower on transgender care for minors, after the doctor was accused of illegally gaining access to records about patients not under his care at Texas Children's Hospital.

The doctor's prosecution was sharply criticized by conservatives, and the charges were dropped days after Trump took office.

McGuireWoods said Monday it hired three former U.S. attorneys – Eric Olshan, of the Western District of Pennsylvania; Ryan Buchanan, of the Northern District of Georgia; and Michael Easley, of the Eastern District of North Carolina – as partners.

Olshan oversaw the trial of Robert Bowers, who was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

Trina Higgins, the former Utah U.S. attorney, joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as an of counsel, the firm said Tuesday.

Edward Kim, who served as the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan following the resignation of Damian Williams in December, rejoined the private law firm he co-founded, KKL. The firm, previously known as Krieger Lewin, announced Kim's return and its name change on Monday.

It is common for U.S. attorneys and other political appointees to move to the private sector when a new political party assumes the White House.

Other government lawyers have taken positions since Trump took office at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; King & Spalding; Latham & Watkins; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Sidley Austin; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and WilmerHale, among other firms.

(Additional reporting by Nate Raymond)