Lowenstein Sandler has landed a pair of litigators leaving government posts in New York, including a longtime Southern District prosecutor who was closely involved in the office's high-profile case against the president's former lawyer.

Former SDNY assistant U.S. attorney Rachel Maimin and former U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission senior counsel H. Gregory Baker both joined Lowenstein as partners in its white-collar criminal defense practice in New York City.

The duo's addition caps off an 18-month lateral hiring spree of government lawyers and prosecutors by the Roseland, New Jersey-based firm.

“I was impressed with the roster of recent government hires into the white-collar group at Lowenstein,” said Maimin, a member of the team that investigated and prosecuted former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. “I also wanted to go to a firm that was growing and dynamic enough to afford me the opportunity to build my own practice,” she added.

Maimin's departure from SDNY was first reported last month. Several other members of the Cohen prosecution team have also departed the office, including former Kirkland & Ellis partner Robert Khuzami, who led the prosecution as deputy U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

Maimin spent nearly a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District. She led the largest-ever gang investigation and prosecution in New York City history, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of 120 gang members in the northeast Bronx. Earlier in her career she was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

She said Lowenstein's focus on building its white-collar practice was “absolutely critical” to her decision to join the firm. “There's really no better time to join a firm than when it is growing in your area of expertise,” she said.

In July 2017, former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram joined Lowenstein as special counsel in its white-collar and technology group in New York.

In January 2018, Christopher Porrino returned to the firm after serving as New Jersey state attorney general for two years. He now chairs Lowenstein's litigation department.

Since then Lowenstein has added several former prosecutors and government lawyers, including former first assistant attorney general of New Jersey Peter Slocum, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York Ryan Wilson, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Elie Honig, and former deputy attorney general of New Jersey Shontae Gray.

Prior to his confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit early this month, deputy chief counsel to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Paul Matey had rejoined Lowenstein as a partner in its white-collar practice last August.

Baker, a former associate at Latham & Watkins and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is joining the firm's capital markets litigation practices as well as the white-collar group. At the SEC, he served as senior counsel in the agency's division of enforcement asset management unit.

Like Maimin, Baker said Lowenstein's commitment to growing its white-collar practice, as well the strength of its investment management and funds practice, drew him to the firm.

“It's an incredibly deep talented group of former government attorneys and white-collar lawyers, and that was something that was very appealing to me,” he said.

Porrino said he expected the firm's “talent binge” to continue, predicting that in the next 12 months Lowenstein will add another three to five government lawyers.

“We're focused on talent and we're focused on experience and I think Rachel and Greg are great examples of that,” he said.