Robert Hur, the U.S. special counsel who investigated whether President Joe Biden improperly handled sensitive government materials, has rejoined King & Spalding as a partner in Washington, the U.S. law firm said Monday.
Hur said his work at King & Spalding would be similar to his practice at rival U.S. law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where Hur co-led the firm's crisis management practice before he was tapped by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel in January 2023.
Hur as special counsel investigated Biden after classified documents were found at Biden's home and his office at the Penn Biden Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington run by the University of Pennsylvania.
The report drew strong criticism from the White House and some congressional Democrats who argued that Hur's discussion of Biden's memory was unnecessary and inappropriate. Hur defended his report before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in March.
Hur on Monday said his special counsel report and congressional testimony spoke for themselves and declined to comment further.
King & Spalding chairman Robert Hays praised Hur's record in a statement and described the Atlanta-founded firm as a top bipartisan destination for former senior public servants.
Hur was previously a partner at King & Spalding before joining the administration of then-President Donald Trump to serve as a top aide to former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein is now also a partner at King & Spalding.
Trump appointed Hur in 2018 to serve as Maryland's U.S. Attorney. He stepped down after Trump's term to join Gibson Dunn.
King & Spalding also said Monday it had rehired Leah Grossi, a former partner who served as a prosecutor with Hur in Maryland and then worked in the Biden White House as an associate counsel and the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs.
Under Hur, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office prosecuted the case of former National Security Agency contractor Harold Martin, who stole large amounts of classified material from U.S. intelligence agencies. At the time, officials called it the biggest breach of U.S. classified information on record.
In 2019, Martin was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Marc Krickbaum, who served as Hur's deputy, rejoined U.S. law firm Winston & Strawn in June. Richard Sauber, who represented Biden during Hur's investigation, joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel last week.
