Doug Gilfillan, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Atlanta. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Fresh from trying the high profile embezzlement case of Atlanta lawyer Nathan Hardwick IV, Doug Gilfillan has left the Atlanta U.S. Attorney's Office for Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton to become a partner on its white-collar defense team.

Gilfillan said the Hardwick trial, which lasted more than three weeks, was the longest of the dozen cases he'd tried since becoming an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in 2007.

A federal jury convicted Hardwick on all counts on Oct. 12. Gilfillan tried the case alongside Northern District prosecutors J. Russell Phillips, who led the prosecution team, and Lynsey Barron.

After 11 years as a federal prosecutor, he was ready to return to private practice, said Gilfillan, who started his career at King & Spalding. He joined Kilpatrick on Monday.

“I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work with the government enforcement and investigations team here—and work with two great lawyers I like and respect,” he said, adding that he's known the team's co-leader, Scott Marrah, from their days at King & Spalding and has known another Atlanta partner, Adria Perez, for many years.

“The opportunity to get a lawyer of Doug's caliber is quite unique,” Marrah said, adding that he'd worked with Gilfillan on cases—and on the other side when he was a federal prosecutor. “He's a talented lawyer and a really collaborative team player, which is what we were looking for.”

Marrah helped launch Kilpatrick's white-collar practice in 2007 after a four-year stint as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. It has grown since then, he said, with partners in Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Los Angeles, as well as Atlanta.

Gilfillan, 49, said he went to law school at Emory University because he wanted to be a prosecutor. He joined King & Spalding because their special matters team was known as a launching point for lawyers who wanted to become AUSAs.

He liked the work and stayed, becoming a partner, until realizing after 10 years that “if I don't do it now, I'm not going to,” Gilfillan said.

He landed the position with the Atlanta U.S. Attorney's Office, where he handled financial crimes and other white-collar criminal matters. Gilfillan said he tried several Ponzi scheme cases, an insider-trading case and bank fraud matters.

He also handled some Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, False Claims Act and public corruption cases—notably the prosecution of former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to accepting bribes in exchange for supporting a proposed real estate development in her district. The federal probe ultimately netted four guilty pleas.

Gilfillan was the deputy chief of the Economic Crimes Section until January, when incoming U.S. Attorney BJay Pak made him chief of the Cyber Crimes and Intellectual Property Section. He was also the Atlanta office's SEC liaison.

Marrah said FCPA and SEC cases are a focus of Kilpatrick's white-collar practice, as well as False Claim Act cases in health care and construction. “That connects very well with Doug's background,” he said.

Kilpatrick also is assisting Larry Thompson of Finch McCranie with his work as the corporate compliance monitor for Volkswagen AG in the wake of its emissions scandal and ensuing plea agreement. Thompson tapped Marrah as deputy monitor for anti-fraud, ethics and compliance.