Former US senator set to join DLA Piper

A former US senator is to join DLA Piper as a senior policy adviser, reports The National Law Journal.

Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle (pictured) will join DLA on 1 December as a senior policy adviser, and will also become a member of the firm's governing global board. He has spent the last four years as an adviser at Atlanta's Alston & Bird.

DLA Piper co-chairman Francis Burch said: "Daschle will be enormously helpful to us in helping our clients achieve their objectives. He's going to spend a lot of time with clients very quickly."

Frank Conner, the managing partner of DLA's Washington DC office, said the firm was interested in recruiting Daschle "for his expertise on healthcare reform, but also on a host of other issues, including energy, trade, and financial services."

In a statement, DLA said that Daschle, who is neither a registered lobbyist nor a lawyer, will counsel clients on regulatory and government affairs, and he will play a big part in client development.

The hire comes nearly a year after former senator George Mitchell left DLA to become a special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration.

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