Washington Wrap is a weekly look at the biggest legal industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send news tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at [email protected].

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, is heading back to the Palmetto State to practice law in the new Year, joining Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.

The news was first reported late Thursday by The Post & Courier in Charleston. A Nelson Mullins spokesperson declined to comment, and Gowdy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, arrived in Congress in 2010 riding a Tea Party wave that gave Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives. A former federal prosecutor in his home state, he earned a reputation as a hard-nosed investigator on Hill and led the House Benghazi Committee's investigation that took aim at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton amid the beginning of the 2016 presidential election cycle.

His stint in D.C. made him a favorite of conservatives, and he became a recurring presence on Fox News, but he never warmed to Washington. In an exit interview of sorts with Vice News earlier this year, Gowdy explained that he is an “executive branch guy” and not a “legislative branch guy.”

“I don't have a lot to show for the last seven years,” Gowdy told Vice, while noting that he was counting the remaining number of trips to the airport until he did not have to return to the nation's capital.

Nelson Mullins is based in South Carolina but has a strong and growing presence in Washington, and it seems unlikely that D.C. has seen the last of Gowdy. While he has maintained his self-effacing persona, his Republican colleagues hold him in high esteem and recently tapped him to deliver a tribute to House Speaker Paul Ryan ahead of Ryan's farewell address.

Nelson Mullins' white-collar defense  and government investigations team has added several notable laterals from government in the past couple of years. Bart Daniel, former U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, and Thomas Ferrigno, chief counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement, both joined Nelson Mullins in 2017.

Daniel works in South Carolina, while Ferrigno is based in D.C.

Law Firm Moves, News and Notes

Miles & Stockbridge added Michael Doane as a principal in its intellectual property & technology practice group in Tysons Corner.

Doane was most recently a partner at Adduci Mastriani & Schaumberg in D.C., where he worked more than 23 years.

Tomislav Joksimovic has returned to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as partner in Washington, D.C. His practice involves investigations, government enforcement, white collar criminal defense, and cross-border litigation.

He most recently was global head of litigation and investigations at EFG Bank in Zurich, Switzerland, and he previously was of counsel at Quinn Emmanuel in D.C.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld promoted 11 new partners for 2019, including six in its D.C. office.

Anne Borkovic, Z.W. Julius Chen, Jason Travis Hauter, Nnedinma C. Ifudu Nweke, Gregory Lavigne Jr., and Kapil Vishnu Pandit will be Akin Gump's newest partners in Washington on January 1. They work across the firm's various practice including its international trade, Supreme Court and appellate, global project finance, and investment management practices.

Schiff Hardin announced it recruited Mike Gentine to the firm's products liability and mass torts group in Washington, D.C.

Gentine was previously senior counsel at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and was most recently a regulatory affairs attorney for Polaris Industries.

Reed Smith added Jennifer Driscoll as counsel to its antitrust and competition team within its general regulatory group in Washington.

She was most recently flying her own flag but is well acquainted with Big Law in D.C., as Driscoll previously was partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, counsel at Mayer Brown, and an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.