Rod Rosenstein testifies in March 2017 during his confirmation hearing to be a deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM)

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is joining King & Spalding in Washington, D.C., as an equity partner, marking the latest addition of former top Justice Department brass at the firm.

Rosenstein spent nearly two decades in senior positions at the Justice Department spanning the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. But his time in the Trump administration overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation makes him one of the most well-known DOJ lawyers and a prized recruit for any major law firm. He left the Justice Department last May and said in an interview Wednesday that he's been job searching since September.

"I actually got in touch with the firm through Bob Ehrlich," a former governor of Maryland who is senior counsel at King & Spalding, Rosenstein said. He said he had "informal discussions" with other firms but settled on King & Spalding shortly after Ehrlich put him in touch with Wick Sollers, who chairs the firm's government matters practice. "It's a product of both a long history of federal interactions with former firm attorneys … and more recently Bob putting me in touch with Wick."

Rosenstein will be reuniting with several former colleagues in King & Spalding's government matters practice. In the last two years, 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, some King & Spalding alums remain in the government, including FBI Director Christopher Wray. While Wray had a good influence on King & Spalding, Rosenstein said, he hoped Wray would remain in government through the end of his 10-year term, which is slated to end in 2027.

Rosenstein praised King & Spalding's depth of experience across practice groups and said he looked forward to working with new colleagues to expand the firm's government investigations, national security and cybersecurity practices.

In his most recent role as the DOJ's No. 2, Rosenstein was responsible for overseeing Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible efforts by President Trump to obstruct the probe. At his new firm, he will advise corporations, individuals and financial institutions on sensitive and reputational legal challenges, including many involving government agencies, legislative bodies and state attorneys general.

He declined to comment on the president's impeachment process but addressed efforts to combat foreign interference in U.S. elections. 

The DOJ "handled that matter as best as it could under the circumstances," Rosenstein said about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"There's a lot that goes on that does not come to public attention," he said, adding the DOJ has worked with other agencies to head off Russian interference and interference by other actors.

In his role at King & Spalding, Rosenstein said he anticipated that most of his time would be spent outside of the courtroom, advising clients on internal investigations and interactions with regulators. While he said he'd still comment on matters within his area of expertise, such as law enforcement, he said, "I'm here to practice law, not politics."

Sollers said in a statement that Rosenstein "deserves his well-earned reputation for being decisive and unflappable in extraordinary professional situations." He added that "clients will benefit from his big-picture perspective, as well as his insights from having updated, improved and formulated federal law enforcement policies on corporate and white-collar enforcement, national security, CFIUS and cyber-digital issues."