Chris Kavanaugh, a former top federal prosecutor in Virginia, will join U.S. law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a partner, the firm said on Monday.
Kavanaugh, who had served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia since 2021, had been with the Justice Department for more than 17 years. He officially stepped down last month.
Top law firms have looked to hire prominent lawyers leaving the government ahead of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House.
On Monday, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher brought on former U.S. Department of Justice senior trial counsel Jake Shields, and former U.S. State Department senior advisor Nema Milaninia joined King & Spalding.
He said he was attracted to New York-founded Cleary in part because the firm encourages its lawyers to have a broad portfolio of work. He will focus on government and internal investigations and litigation, including national security-related corporate matters, as part of the firm's enforcement and litigation team.
He will be part of the 1,100-lawyer firm's Washington office.
Kavanaugh pointed to high-profile cases prosecuted during his time as U.S. Attorney, including research animal breeder Envigo's guilty plea in June, in which the company agreed to pay $35 million to resolve an investigation into its mistreatment of thousands of beagles.
In another case, McKinsey & Co. agreed in December to pay $650 million to resolve charges over advice it provided Purdue Pharma on how to "turbocharge" sales of its addictive painkiller OxyContin. Last week, a former McKinsey partner pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by destroying records related to the work.
