Alexander Okuliar, a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, has left the firm after nearly five years for a top role in the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division, where he will oversee litigation and merger investigations.

"Alex has distinguished himself throughout his career in the government and in private practice. We are excited to welcome Alex back to the division, where his elite antitrust experience will bolster the front office's impressive ranks and help us fulfill our mission to protect American consumers," Makan Delrahim, the assistant attorney general in charge of the division, said in a statement Tuesday.

For Okuliar, who'd been based in Orrick's Washington office, the move marks a return to the Justice Department's antitrust division. From 2010 until mid-2012, he served as a trial attorney focused on mergers in the technology and financial service sectors. Okuliar was later an adviser to Maureen Ohlhausen, a former Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, before joining Orrick in 2015.

Okuliar arrives at the Justice Department as the antitrust division undertakes an expansive investigation into the business practices of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. On Jan. 26, the Wall Street Journal reported that several state attorneys general are expected to meet with Justice Department attorneys soon, in a gathering that could lead the various enforcers to combine forces in a probe carrying the potential of shaping the search giant's future.

DOJ leaders are also feuding with the FTC over a Qualcomm antitrust case, as the trade commission has asserted its counterparts are trying to shield the wireless giant from antitrust law.

Okuliar appears to be filling the deputy assistant attorney general slot vacated by Donald Kempf, who resigned in 2018 amid an internal investigation into his use of government computers. The Justice Department's inspector general concluded that Kempf had accessed hundreds of sexually explicit images on his government-issued computers and then made false statements when questioned about his conduct. The former longtime Kirkland & Ellis partner and top in-house lawyer for Morgan Stanley has not commented publicly about the investigation.

The leadership team in the DOJ's antitrust division includes Bernard Nigro Jr., the principal deputy assistant attorney general and a former Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson partner; Rene Augustine, a deputy assistant attorney general responsible for international and policy; Richard Powers, deputy assistant attorney general in charge of criminal enforcement; and Michael Murray, a deputy assistant attorney general who joined the DOJ in 2017 from Jones Day, where he had been an associate. Murray went up against Sidley Austin's Peter Keisler in 2018 in the DOJ's failed bid to block AT&T's merger with Time Warner.

Okuliar notified a federal court in New York last week that he was leaving Orrick. In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, he was defending the owner of the digital streaming app Locast against a copyright infringement suit brought by the major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The networks are represented by Williams & Connolly.

Earlier in his career, Okuliar was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, from 2000 to 2005, and then was counsel at O'Melveny & Myers before joining the Justice Department in 2010. "While I will miss the talented people at the FTC and DOJ, I am excited to return to private practice and join the Orrick platform," Okuliar said in a statement when he joined the firm.

The Justice Department said Okuliar has served in leadership roles in the American Bar Association's antitrust law section and in the Federalist Society.