Former Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel began his new job today as a partner at the D.C. office of Dechert, The Blog of the Legal Times reported this afternoon.
Engel, who was added to the firm’s white-collar and securities litigation division, told the BLT that Dechert “offered a fantastic opportunity.”
“It was a really good fit,” he told the BLT. “They have a number of very strong practice areas.”
Engel began as an OLC counsel in May 2006 and became deputy assistant attorney general in January 2007. He was an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis before coming to the Justice Department.
Although Engel was not around at OLC when the infamous “torture memos” were authored, he did weigh in on the Guantanamo Bay detainees at a December 2007 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, The BLT said. He said the prisoners should not receive the right of habeas corpus, according to The BLT.
The BLT also reported that former DOJ Antitrust Division Chief of Staff Hill Wellford will join law firm Bingham McCutchen at its D.C. office.
