Through the revolving door, slowly

By Mark J. Botti - 06/06/07 04:07 PM ET

During my 13 years at the Justice Department, I would scan with casual interest the news of the comings and goings of other federal employees. Sometimes I knew these folks; other times, they were just names tucked away in some corner of a local D.C. paper. Not until my own recent move from the federal government into private practice did I pause to contemplate the series of judgments that led up to these announcements.

My decision to leave the federal government was neither easy nor spontaneous. I’m glad it wasn’t. I had left a law partnership to join the Justice Department because of my desire to serve the public.

Once there, I found a universe of people who shared that objective. I found important, challenging and interesting projects, good friends, and an environment where the merits of people’s work and the effort they put into it were valued. Don’t get me wrong here, I also had my fair share of frustrations and gripes, and I didn’t say it was easy. All in all, though, my federal service was great.

You can see why, then, I wanted to study as carefully as possible the private setting into which I might move. You might ask, “Why move at all?” Well, responsibilities change on the home front and professionally it’s refreshing to seek out new challenges. So I decided to explore my options. I took my time. I didn’t want to just give up my federal service without knowing well where I was heading. I started to explore the possibility of my leaving the Department a good two years before making a final decision. Once I decided I probably would go, finding the right situation required some careful planning on my part.

Some broad sense of what opportunities to pursue was needed. Washington presents a lot of options, but, as a lawyer with a federal policy and litigation background, the law firms quickly emerged as my natural path. Law firms, however, vary significantly.

I had a preference for working for a place whose D.C. office was the, or at least one of the, core offices of the law firm. I was looking for a long-term fit and wanted a substantial number of my future partners in close proximity, where we could get to know each other through regular contact. I made the decision early on to work with a professional placement firm and received a ton of useful advice and “market information” that made my search much better than anything I could have done on my own. For example, we had a collegial workplace at the Antitrust Division, and I wanted a similar culture at my new firm.

The interview process was critical. You learn a lot from talking to different places and different people at each place. For example, you want the move to work not just for you but for the firm as well. It was critical to have thought through my own plan on how I might help expand the practice of my new firm. I wanted my plan to mesh with my new firm’s needs. Through the interviews, I found that firms varied in the depth and direction of their thinking, and I learned a lot from probing and questioning each firm’s plans.

Coming from the federal government, I wouldn’t show up at the new firm with a “book of business” that could translate directly into growth for the new firm. The horizons had to be a bit broader for my practice to develop. I was looking for a place that had made the bet on federal officials in the past successfully and had comfort in its prediction of our future success and some track record in how to make the new relationship work.

An important benefit of going to a place that had hired a number of federal employees was that it gave me a sense of continuity. I figured, and it’s turned out so far to have a lot of truth to it, that people who had previously served in the federal government have shared views and experiences. They naturally gravitate to places that value their desire to participate in public life. That others had come from federal service to my firm before me has turned out to be a pretty good predictor that I was going to a place where I fit well.

One thing I learned, as I explored moving through the revolving door, was that passing through that door didn’t mean I had to abandon my participation in federal policy and enforcement. My new role still requires that I address policy and enforcement choices, so as to advise private clients on complying with the law. Having just exited, I’m finding a world where my work can still make important contributions and where I can undertake new challenges. Different, but not too different, from the federal service that I left.

Mark J. Botti focuses on antitrust matters. Before joining Akin Gump in 2007, he served for 13 years at the Department of Justice in a wide range of litigation and policy positions within the antitrust division.