Top NSA lawyer heads back to Mayer Brown

The general counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA) left his post to return to private practice at Mayer Brown’s Washington, D.C. office.

Rajesh “Raj” De will rejoin the firm as a partner and head of a 35-lawyer practice in June. He first made partner at Mayer Brown in 2007, before leaving for a string of government posts. His last day with the NSA was Friday.

{mosads}De became the agency’s top lawyer in May 2012, putting him right in the center of the debate over leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden starting in 2013.

“It was the most challenging time in the agency’s history,” told The Am Law Daily in an interview. “Everything was so secret, for so long, that there’s still a lot of misinformation about what we do.”

De’s return to private practice comes as major D.C. law firms seek to beef up their credentials on cybersecurity and data privacy. De told the The Am Law Daily that Mayer Brown has promised to double his practice in size within two years.

Prior to his NSA post, De worked in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy and the White House.

NSA deputy general counsel Teisha Anthony will lead the agency’s legal department while a replacement for De is found.