Gary G. Grindler, the former acting deputy attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice, the agency’s second highest-ranking official, and chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Holder, has rejoined King & Spalding as a partner in the special matters and government investigations practice in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Grindler was a partner at King & Spalding from 2000 to 2009, when he left to join the Justice Department. He will focus on financial fraud, health care, international and congressional investigations and False Claims Act cases.
“Gary Grindler is a top litigator and has a deep understanding of the prosecution of white-collar crime. We are excited to welcome him back to the firm,” said Wick Sollers, managing partner of King & Spalding’s Washington office. “Having spent a large part of his career at the Justice Department, Gary has worked on a wide variety of issues relating to white-collar investigations and prosecutions, law enforcement, national security, money laundering and computer crimes. Our clients will benefit greatly from the breadth of experience he has gathered.”
Grindler brings broad-based experience with the Department of Justice to his practice at King & Spalding — experience that is crucial to corporations when they face crisis situations that require a multifaceted approach to address criminal, civil, regulatory, legislative, congressional and public relations issues. As acting deputy attorney general, he supervised 94 United States attorneys’ offices, all department law enforcement agencies (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and United States Marshals Service) and the civil, criminal, tax, antitrust and environmental divisions of the Department of Justice. In addition to serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Georgia, Grindler also served as a deputy assistant attorney general in both the civil and criminal Divisions of the Justice Department.
Grindler’s legal practice at King & Spalding has focused on internal investigations for corporations and audit or special board committees of public companies, as well as defense of corporations and individuals in white-collar criminal, civil fraud and government agency investigations involving, among others, securities laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, tax laws, import/export laws, health care regulation, the False Claims Act and financial fraud.
Grindler has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and as a Washington, D.C., Super Lawyer. In 2000, Grindler received the J. Edmund Randolph Award, the highest award the Justice Department presents to one of its lawyers. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Northwestern University.
Grindler said: “I am excited to rejoin King & Spalding and look forward to serving the needs of our clients not only with respect to major corporate investigations, enforcement matters and internal investigations, but also working proactively with them early on to adopt the proper compliance policies and business practices — thereby ensuring both their government compliance and business success.”
