U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and dozens of lawyers who argue at the U.S. Supreme Court turned out Thursday to celebrate the career of newly retired deputy U.S. Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, who argued more than 100 cases before the court and aided special counsel Robert Mueller III in his Trump investigation.

Known as a straightforward, no-nonsense expert on federal criminal law, Dreeben displayed his lighter side at the party, which took place at a downtown Washington bar called Dirty Habit, a name that is difficult to imagine being associated with Dreeben.

When asked what his next chapter will be, the 65-year-old Dreeben smiled and said, “I’m looking for a job. Do you have one?” He did not elaborate, but friends said he is casting a wide net with law firms and other possible options.

Lawyers who worked with Dreeben during his 30-year tenure confirmed that he can be mischievous. In an essay on SCOTUSblog Nicole Saharsky, now at Mayer Brown, recounted the time in 2013 when Dreeben argued Bond v. United States, in which a chemical weapons treaty was invoked in the case of a woman who tried to poison her husband’s mistress.

Justice Samuel Alito Jr. posited a hypothetical of the woman retaliating against her former friend by pouring a bottle of vinegar in the friend’s goldfish bowl. “As I read the statute, that would be a violation of the statute, potentially punishable by life imprisonment, wouldn’t it?”

After the argument, Saharsky wrote, Dreeben placed a bottle of vinegar in the SG’s office refrigerator. A label stated, “Caution! Not for use on goldfish. Prohibited Chemical Weapon under Federal Law, 18 U.S.C. 229.”

Nicole Saharsky Nicole Saharsky speaks on a U.S. Supreme Court panel in June in Washington. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

Kagan, who worked with Dreeben briefly when she served as solicitor general in 2009 and 2010, gave Dreeben a hug at Thursday’s party but declined to comment on his departure from the Justice Department. At a 2016 event marking Dreeben’s 100th argument, Kagan said he helped her learn quickly about appellate practice and criminal law. Kagan said she felt she was “in the company of a magnificent attorney doing a magnificent job.”

U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco and former SGs Gregory Garre and Paul Clement also joined the celebration, as did current deputies and associates in the office, including Malcolm Stewart, Elizabeth Prelogar, Anthony Yang and Rachel Kovner, likely soon-to-be confirmed as a federal district court judge in New York. Prelogar served with Dreeben on Mueller’s special counsel team.

“As I’ve often said when speaking to conferences of federal prosecutors at the Justice Department, Michael Dreeben knows more about criminal law than anyone else on Earth,” Francisco said in a tribute at SCOTUSblog. “But it’s not only his knowledge that sets him apart. It’s also his talent as an advocate, and his tireless devotion to his craft.”

Noel Francisco U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

Among the Supreme Court advocates who attended, most with former ties to the SG’s office, were Carter Phillips of Sidley Austin, John Elwood of Arnold & Porter, Sarah Harrington of Goldstein & Russell, Andrew Pincus of Mayer Brown, Beth Brinkmann of Covington & Burling, Erin Murphy of Kirkland & Ellis, Christopher Wright of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, David Frederick of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, Pratik Shah of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, William Jay of Goodwin Procter, Elaine Goldenberg of Munger, Tolles & Olson, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of Ropes & Gray, and Irv Gornstein of the Georgetown Supreme Court Institute. Jeffrey Minear, counselor to the chief justice, also attended.

Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was on hand, and so were Judges Beryl Howell, Randy Moss, James Boasberg and Paul Friedman of Washington’s federal trial court.

Dreeben next week is set to speak at an American Bar Association event in San Francisco focused on the Supreme Court’s criminal law decisions. He’s appearing on a panel with U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. and Mary McNamara of San Francisco’s Swanson & McNamara.