Former U.S. Rep. and New Jersey State Assemblyman Rodney Frelinghuysen has joined Greenberg Traurig as senior director of the firm's government law and policy practice.

Frelinghuysen, 73, will be mostly based in the firm's office in Washington, D.C., where he maintains a residence, and spend the rest of this time in the Florham Park office when meeting with New Jersey-based clients.

Frelinghuysen, who is not an attorney, will be advising clients on policy issues, such as defense, health care, public transportation infrastructure including port operations, and higher education, according to a release Wednesday.

His first day at Greenberg Traurig was Tuesday, just over a year after retiring from Congress on Jan. 3, 2019.

"My tasks are not fully defined, but I'll be looking at things of importance to the nation and New Jersey," Frelinghuysen said in a phone interview from his D.C. office Tuesday.

The Republican's decades-long career in public service included 24 years in Congress, including committee chairmanships, 11 years in Trenton, and nine years in county government.

"I've been sort of getting my life back and giving my attention to my small grandchildren, all of whom are under [age] 6," Frelinghuysen said of his year "off."

"Chairman Frelinghuysen has been an effective and well-respected leader at all levels of government, and his experience and reputation make him an excellent fit for our team," said Ernest L. Greer, co-president of Greenberg Traurig in the release. "Adding him to our federal practice offers another layer of quality and excellence in key areas important to the marketplace."

Robert Jones and Robert Mangas co-chair the federal government law and policy practice.

"From his service to our country in Vietnam through his days as a public servant at the highest levels, Chairman Frelinghuysen has always conducted himself with the utmost integrity and has had great success. He is highly regarded by many current policy makers in both the Legislative and Executive Branches," the duo said in a joint statement in the release.

Frelinghuysen, describing himself in Wednesday's phone interview as "recharged," said he was looking forward to using his years of experience on Capitol Hill and enviable Rolodex at Greenberg Traurig.

"I worked on all sorts of New Jersey priorities in a bipartisan way in Congress and the New Jersey Assembly," Frelinghuysen said, noting that in the past year, "I took a leave of absence to look at other things."

"I knew several people who worked in the firm [Greenberg Traurig] and I seriously thought about joining up. It's an incredible firm," he added. "Everyone I met here from the interview process to my first day yesterday, I've been impressed. I was impressed how collaborative everyone has been."

Frelinghuysen said the firm's diversity was also an asset, with 44% of its lawyers women.

First elected to Congress in 1994, Frelinghuysen served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 through 2019, including five years as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which determines the annual budget for the lower chamber. He also chaired the Defense Subcommittee, which covers all intelligence matters, including the upkeep of military installations and all military appropriations.

Before that, Frelinghuysen was a fixture in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1981 to 1994. He served during then-Gov. Jim Florio's second term, and into Gov. Christine Todd Whitman's. Of his decade-long tenure there, he spent half of it as chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Frelinghuysen also served as Morris County Freeholder for nine years in the 1970s.

Of his time in Trenton, Frelinghuysen said he was most proud of sponsoring a bill for the first Human Services Department bond issue to help build housing for those with developmental disabilities and mental illness.

On Tuesday, Frelinghuysen got up to speed, in part by watching videos in the D.C. office of Greenberg Traurig's culture and core values.

"It has a great reputation and … it has a secret sauce," Frelinghuysen said. "It has a certain atmosphere here that is very collaborative, and people can sort of work on their own to meet the needs of an enormous number of clients, and that excites me. This is a firm that respects nonlawyers, and I think it's a good blend of lawyers working with nonlawyers to add value to that sauce. I'm enjoying it already."

Frelinghuysen ranked his top four achievements while chairman of the committee and subcommittee: budgeting for the development of the multibillion-dollar trans-Hudson Gateway tunnel; keeping the Picatinny Arsenal open in Rockaway Township; helping pass the Federal Highlands Act to preserve millions of acres of open space in North Jersey, to protect its water supply; and his involvement in the New York-New Jersey Harbor dredging project in order to keep the port open.

"I'm not a lawyer … but I am joining a firm that is allowing me to contribute all my experiences to work with the whole wide spectrum of clients, some of which are in New Jersey—in pharmaceuticals, defense-based or within the telecommunications community, and defense contractors," Frelinghuysen, whose second home in Harding Township is about 15 minutes from Greenberg Traurig's Florham Park office, said.

Greenberg Traurig noted that it has made other recent hires to its Washington, D.C., office, including Smith W. "Smitty" Davis, a former counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and its Crime Subcommittee.

Greenberg Traurig has approximately 2,200 attorneys in 41 offices globally, according to the firm.