US President Barack Obama has picked W. Neil Eggleston to succeed Kathryn Ruemmler as the new White House counsel. In a statement reported on Bloomberg, President Obama said, "Neil brings extraordinary expertise, credentials and experience to our team. He has a passion for public service, is renowned for his conscientiousness and foresight, and I look forward to working with him in the coming years."
Eggleston is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Prior to that, he was associate counsel for then President Bill Clinton's White House. He is a known Democratic funder, giving President Obama the maximum USD4,600 during his 2008 campaign. He then gave then Hillary Clinton USD2,300 when she sought to be the standard bearer for the party.
In other firm news, former US Ambassador to New Zealand David Huebner would be joining the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP. He was a partner of the firm's offices in Los Angeles prior to joining the diplomatic service. In his new role, he would be heading the international commercial arbitration, trade and investments as well as other international law services of the firm in the Asia-Pacific region.
The San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has added corporate attorney Ryan Murr as partner. He would become the firm's co-chairman for the life sciences practices group, which would handle technology and life science firms on corporate issues. He would also represent the investors in these industries after her service with the government.
Another public servant joins the private sector, as Kathy Brown, the associate general counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense has moved to join Covington & Burling LLP. She is engaged as special counsel, where she would be lending her expertise in the firm's aerospace, defense and security industry practice group.
