After nearly a decade working for the U.S. Department of Justice, Laura Perkins is getting off the federal government's payroll for a life in private practice.

Hughes Hubbard & Reed announced Thursday that it had hired Perkins as a partner for its anticorruption, internal investigations and white-collar regulatory defense group in Washington, D.C.

“It felt like time to make the transition in my career,” Perkins said of her departure from Main Justice. “I really [had] accomplished and done most of what I set out to do when I went into government service, so this felt like a great time to [go into] private practice.”