Washington Monument at sunset in Washington, D.C. December 18, 2019.

Around the Beltway, the law firm merry-go-round showed no signs of slowing down in Washington, D.C., in 2019. Trump administration veterans and alumni of Robert Mueller's Russia probe, including Mueller himself, made their way back to Big Law. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison's move to open an appellate practice in D.C. set off a string of moves by top U.S. Supreme Court advocates. And after Morrison & Foerster announced it was closing its Northern Virginia office, a high-billing corporate team jumped to King & Spalding.

Here's a look at some of the biggest moves in and around Washington in 2019:

Trump Administration Exits: Any presidential administration will have names sought after by top D.C. firms, and even with its controversies, the executive branch under Trump has proved no exception.

Two firms in particular stand out as landing pads. Jones Day's links were clear well before 2019, representing Trump's presidential campaign and then sending 12 lawyers into the administration in its earliest days. This year, former White House counsel Donald McGahn returned to the firm in April to lead its government relations practice. In August, John Gore, a onetime acting leader of the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division who spearheaded the failed effort to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census, also resumed his career at the firm. And late this summer, his DOJ colleague Brett Shumate joined Jones Day, having worked for Wiley Rein when he was last in private practice.

Daniel Coats

King & Spalding has also tapped into the Trump administration's talent pool, led by its October hire of former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. The former Indiana senator had previously spent five years as a lobbyist at the firm. It has also added a number of names from the FBI, highlighted by former chief of staff Zach Harmon, who returns fro his third stint at King & Spalding. And Stephen Lynch, previously general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, made his return in July.

Mueller Alums In Demand: Special counsel Robert Mueller assembled an impressive team to investigate links and coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. And even before he turned in his report in March, there was considerable speculation about where he and his deputies would wind up. Mueller himself returned to a partnership at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in October, alongside firm veterans Aaron Zebley and James Quarles.

Jeannie Rhee

But Jeannie Rhee, their colleague in the investigation and during their previous stint at the firm, set out for new pastures earlier, landing at Paul Weiss's D.C. office in June.

After retiring from government service in June, Michael Dreeben, a former longtime U.S. deputy solicitor general with more than 100 U.S. Supreme Court arguments under his belt, initially joined the Georgetown Law faculty in August, spending this academic year as a distinguished lecturer in government. But that wasn't all for the criminal law expert who spent his final two years in public service on Mueller's team. O'Melveny & Myers reeled him in as a "prize catch" in December.

Andrew Goldstein, one of Mueller's lead prosecutors, also joined Cooley in June as a litigation partner in the firm's white-collar practice, dividing his time between Washington, D.C., and New York.

Appellate Cascade: Before hiring Rhee, Paul Weiss signaled its commitment to building up the firm in D.C. with the January hire of U.S. Supreme Court litigator Kannon Shanmugam from Williams & Connolly. Famously the only lawyer to join Williams & Connolly as a lateral partner in 32 years, Shanmugam came aboard to lead a new appellate and Supreme Court practice at Paul Weiss and serve as a leader of the firm's Washington office. (Paul Weiss also scooped up former U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch in May, although she is based in New York.)

Kannon Shanmugam

Williams & Connolly appeared prepared for Shanmugam's move. The same day that news of the move broke, the firm announced that it would be replacing him with Lisa Blatt, the head of Arnold & Porter's Supreme Court and appellate practice. Blatt, who has argued more cases before the high court than any other woman, began her legal career as an associate at Williams & Connolly.

It took a little longer for Arnold & Porter to fill the void, but the firm did so with the June hire of John Elwood from Vinson & Elkins to lead its appellate and Supreme Court practice.

King & Spalding Draws MoFo Corporate Team: In early October, Morrison & Foerster announced that it would be closing its Northern Virginia office, merging operations with a new office within the District of Columbia scheduled to open in fall 2020. The reasoning became more clear several weeks later when four corporate partners from NoVa jumped ship to King & Spalding's D.C. office.

Larry Yanowitch, Charles Katz, Tom Knox and Jeremy Schropp had all been together at Morrison & Foerster since leaving Shaw Pittman in 2005 in advance of that firm's acquisition by Pillsbury Winthrop. For King & Spalding, the hires demonstrate a desire to build on the region's strengths as a center for innovation in technology and defense. And the four new hires will soon be back on the other side of the Potomac, as the firm is set to lease new space there in 2020.