Richard Sauber, the White House special counsel who represented Democratic President Joe Biden in a probe over his handling of classified documents, has joined Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, the firm said Monday.
Sauber will work out of Kramer Levin's Washington, D.C. office as a partner and advise targets of investigations by Congress and other state and federal authorities, the firm said.
The move reunites Sauber with colleagues from his former law firm Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Untereiner, a Washington litigation firm that combined with Kramer Levin in March 2022.
Sauber said at the White House he had also gotten to know Barry Berke, a New York-based partner who leads Kramer Levin's litigation practice and who represented Democrats twice in their impeachment efforts against former Republican President Donald Trump.
"It’s hard to get started again, but I’ll certainly contact my former clients and hope there are new clients seeking help," Sauber said.
Sauber left the firm in 2021 after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination to serve as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
He said he joined the White House in 2022 in anticipation of congressional Republicans taking control of the House following the midterm elections.
His role expanded 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.
Sauber defended Biden when U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Robert Hur in January 2023 to investigate whether Biden had improperly handled sensitive government materials.
Sauber criticized the references to Biden's memory at the time and said on Monday that the report contained "inappropriate and unwarranted" comments.
Sauber left the White House in May, following the end of Hur's investigation.
Marc Krickbaum, who served as Hur's deputy, rejoined U.S. law firm Winston & Strawn in June.
