Sanford “Sandy” Litvack.

New York litigation boutique Chaffetz Lindsey has picked up veteran trial lawyer and former Walt Disney Co. executive Sanford Litvack from Hogan Lovells, Litvack's new firm announced Tuesday.

Litvack, who goes by “Sandy,” comes to Chaffetz Lindsey as a partner after several years in a senior counsel role in the litigation department at Hogan Lovells, a firm he joined in 2004. Prior to that, he practiced for a short period at both Dewey Ballantine and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after departing Disney in 2000.

Explaining the reasons for the switch, Litvack said in an interview on Tuesday that he was drawn to the boutique model adopted by Chaffetz Lindsey, a firm started about a decade ago by a group of former Clifford Chance partners. Chaffetz Lindsey now has 26 lawyers overall, 11 of them partners.

While it might be a smaller firm, Litvack said, Chaffetz Lindsey has the legal firepower and expertise to handle almost any kind of commercial litigation matter with efficiency and without the client conflicts that often emerge at larger firms.

“I really felt they were the kind of operation that made sense,” said Litvack. “They can handle the bigger cases, but they're more nimble.”

Litvack's move to Chaffetz Lindsey is the latest in a long career at the highest levels of the legal industry and public sector. After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 1959, he joined the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the attorney general's honors program before moving into private practice for roughly two decades at the now-defunct firm Donovan Leisure Newton and Irvine. Litvack noted his time at Donovan Leisure also coincided with his meeting Chaffetz Lindsey co-founder Peter Chaffetz, whom he has now known for about four decades.

He later returned to the DOJ in light of an appointment by former President Jimmy Carter, who tapped Litvack to serve as assistant attorney general in charge of the department's antitrust division. Antitrust work has remained a key part of Litvack's career, but he's also tried cases in several other areas, including contract, trademark and copyright disputes, according to Chaffetz Lindsey.

In 1991, he joined Disney as general counsel, remaining at the company for almost 20 years and moving into executive roles as his tenure there continued. He rose to positions as chief of corporate operations at Disney and vice president of the company's board of directors, and was reportedly a close adviser to longtime Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Among other events, Litvack's time at Disney included close involvement in the company's acquisitions of broadcaster ABC and sports network ESPN, as well as a restructuring of Euro Disney.

Welcoming Litvack, Chaffetz gave a nod to his new partner's vast experience, saying it will be a boon for the firm's clients to tap into Litvack's perspective from both the client and outside counsel side of legal matters.

“Sandy is a giant of the business trial bar who has also served with distinction both in government and in senior management at Disney. Our clients and our team will immediately benefit from his skill, experience and judgment,” said Chaffetz in a statement.  “We are honored that Sandy has chosen to continue his career with us.”

During his recent stint as a private practice lawyer, Litvack has also looked to be involved in government, albeit not on the same nationwide scale that defined his time at the DOJ.

In 2017, Litvack ran as a Democrat for Greenwich, Connecticut's first selectman seat against a long-term Republican incumbent, Peter Tesei. Litvack lost a closely contested election to Tesei, but still made a decision to sit on the town's board of selectmen in a customary position reserved for those who don't win the race for first selectman, according to local news reports.