Lateral season is off and running. Here's a look at some of the most notable litigator moves to kick off the year.

After job searching since September, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week announced he was joining King & Spalding as an equity partner. A former U.S. attorney in Maryland, Rosenstein shot to fame for appointing and overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation.

Rosenstein also had the dubious honor of becoming fodder for late night comics. Remember, for example, when reports surfaced that Rosenstein might have suggested secretly taping the president.  "Well, what do you want me to do, Andy, wear a wire?" he asked former FBI official Andrew McCabe at a meeting in 2017. 

Or wait, maybe he was being sarcastic?

Seth Meyers offered this take: "So we're at the brink of a constitutional crisis because no one could tell if Rod Rosenstein was joking or not," Meyers said.

The Late Night host continued, "Can I just make a suggestion to all civil servants in our justice system? Don't make jokes! Jokes are broken now! We made so many jokes about how hilarious it would be if Donald Trump was president that it came true."

King & Spalding seems like fitting home for Rosenstein. As my colleagues Jack Newsham and Christine Simmons reported, the firm has added former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, former U.S. Attorneys Zachary Fardon and John Horn and former Associate Deputy Attorney General Alicia O'Brien, along with former FBI Chief of Staff Zack Harmon. The firm also recently added former U.S. Sen. and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Meanwhile, King & Spalding alum Christopher Wray is serving as head of the FBI.

For more, see DOJ's Rod Rosenstein Lands at King & Spalding

Rosenstein wasn't King & Spalding's only pickup. Litigator Steven Zager, who spent the last decade in New York as a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, joined the firm as a partner in Austin. During most of his time at Akin Gump, he led the firm's global intellectual property practice.

"It was time to come home," said Zager, who practiced in Austin from 1998 to 2003 at the now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, according to Lit Daily sibling publication Texas Lawyer.

For more, see Litigation Partner Leaves Akin Gump in New York to Join King & Spalding in Austin

Washington, D.C.-based financial services powerhouse Buckley snagged James McGuire to lead its San Francisco office. McGuire joins from Morrison & Forester, where he co-chaired the financial services litigation practice and represented companies including Target and US Bank. 

"James has earned his reputation as an outstanding litigator through repeated successes for financial services companies, and will be instrumental in anchoring our San Francisco office," Benjamin Klubes, Buckley's managing partner, said in a statement.

McGuire told my colleague Patrick Smith that he anticipates his existing client base will follow him, noting that there is hardly a financial services company in the United States that does not already work with Buckley in some manner. 

For more, see Buckley Taps MoFo's Financial Services Litigation Leader to Guide SF Office

MoFo may have lost McGuire, but the firm gained David Fertig, a complex commercial litigator who was a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York since 2006.

Litigation department global co-chair Bradley Wine said that the acquisition in New York is part of MoFo's "ambitious growth strategy" targeting key markets and practice groups.

Fertig's clients, per his former Weil profile, included Lehman Brothers, Sanofi, GE and Thomson Reuters.

For more, see Morrison & Foerster Hires Weil Commercial Litigation Partner

That's not all.  Alex Yap rejoined MoFo's Los Angeles office as an IP litigator after four years as an administrative judge at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Ex-PTAB judges are still a relatively rare commodity. My colleague Scott Graham reports that Covington & Burling; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner; and Perkins Coie are among the handful of AmLaw 100 firms that have added PTAB judges to their practices in the last few years.

Under PTO rules, Yap can't appear before the PTAB for one year, though he can advise clients informally on strategy.

For more, see Morrison & Foerster Brings PTAB Judge Alex Yap Back Into the Fold

Making a move to bulk up its presence in Chicago, Blank Rome grabbed Craig Culbertson, who led McGuireWoods' Chicago office and was an executive committee member at the firm.

My colleague David Thomas reported that when Culbertson joined McGuireWoods nearly 20 years ago, the firm had fewer than 10 lawyers in Chicago. On his watch, it's grown to nearly 100.

"I relish the opportunity here to do very much the same thing," Culbertson said of his new firm, where he'll be a partner in its corporate, M&A and securities group and a member of both of its energy and financial services industry teams. 

However, he's not joining Blank Rome in a formal leadership role. "I'm 64 years old and I've had all kinds of very nice titles," Culbertson said. "I really enjoy, at this point, working with clients, helping strategize with them, helping grow this office."

Blank Rome also added Paul Tzur, the former deputy chief of the narcotics and money laundering section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.

For more, see Blank Rome Taps a Rival Firm's Chicago Leader as It Chases Midwest Growth

Rising appellate star Elizabeth Prelogar, who notched seven U.S. Supreme Court arguments at the U.S. solicitor general's office, has joined Cooley at a partner in Washington, D.C., my colleague Tony Mauro reports.

A former clerk for Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, Prelogar joined the SG's office from Hogan Lovells in 2014. She was detailed to the Mueller probe as a legal adviser in 2017. At the time, Hogan partner Neal Katyal said she was "perhaps the best young lawyer with whom I have ever worked."

At Cooley, Prelogar will focus on building a Supreme Court practice as well as tackling white-collar, technology, privacy and government investigation matters.

For more, see Elizabeth Prelogar, Mueller Alum and Supreme Court Advocate, Joins Cooley

Cooley wasn't the only firm to snap up a top government lawyer. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius is bringing back Matt Miner, who played a key role developing policies for white-collar enforcement under the Trump administration.

According to The National Law Journal, Miner's tenure as a top aide to the head of the criminal division was marked by a number of new policies designed to incentivize companies to invest in compliance programs to prevent misconduct and to encourage voluntary disclosures of misdeeds to the Justice Department.

For more, see Matt Miner, Leading DOJ Criminal Division Lawyer, Returns to Morgan Lewis

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton added Irell & Manella appellate co-chair David Schwarz to its Century City, California office.

Schwarz is best-known for defending companies facing litigation from various California regulatory agencies, ALM's Dylan Jackson reports. He scored a recent win on behalf of California farmer Dan Gerawan, which led to the largest union decertification election in California agricultural history.

Schwarz is not the only leader of late to exit 75-year-old, California-based Irell. In August, the firm lost managing partner and former IP co-chair David Gindler to Milbank, along with two other IP partners. 

Soon after, Irell's global investigations and anti-corruption practice head Jason Linder, and partner Glenn Vanzura jumped to Mayer Brown's Los Angeles office. And Jeffrey Reisner, who headed Irell's bankruptcy practice, joined McDermott Will & Emery.

For more, see Irell Loses Another Leader as Appellate Co-Chair Moves to Sheppard Mullin

Three Miami-based Boies Schiller Flexner partners—Mark Heise, Luis Suarez, and Patricia Melville — have formed their own minority- and woman-owned litigation boutique: Heise Suarez Melville.

Heise recently led a Boies Schiller's team in a multidistrict class action case against auto parts manufacturer Takata over defective air bags. To date, the case has resulted in the recovery of $1.5 billion for the plaintiffs.

Steve Zack, the administrative partner for Boies Schiller's Miami office and an executive committee member, was gracious in wishing them well.

 "I've enjoyed working with these attorneys. At one time in my own life, I left a large practice to start my own firm so I understand the itch and wish them the very best.''

For more, see Three Boies Schiller Partners Split Off To Form New Litigation Boutique