- U.S. & Americas
- Lateral moves
- San Francisco
Helen Gilbert has joined Jenner & Block as a partner in its San Francisco office, returning to the firm after roughly 17 years in federal government service; she was a summer associate at Jenner in 2007. She spent more than a decade at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, where she led the National Security, Cyber, and Special Prosecutions Section, The Recorder reported. She joins the firm's Investigations, Compliance, and Defense practice, co-chaired by Brandon Fox, which advises clients on government investigations, white-collar matters and corporate crises.
Jenner has added 18 partners in San Francisco since opening in 2021
Jenner opened its San Francisco office in 2021 by hiring former Boies Schiller partner Ann O'Leary. It has added 18 partners there since, Bloomberg Law reported. The firm is moving to larger space at 525 Market Street, more than doubling its footprint, and is opening a new office in Century City. Litigation co-chair Reid Schar called San Francisco "one of the busiest offices in the entire firm" and said the growing client base was driving the hiring.
Gilbert's arrival follows other investigations hires in the office. The group includes former SEC enforcement assistant director Jennifer J. Lee. The firm also promoted Paige Zielinski to partner in the San Francisco investigations practice, effective 1 January 2026. The partners added since 2021 also include litigators, among them former Weil, Gotshal & Manges lawyer Hong-An Tran.
Nearly 8,600 lawyers left federal agencies as firms hired more than 1,100 in 2025
The hiring comes as large numbers of lawyers leave government. Almost 8,600 attorneys left federal agencies between January 2025 and late 2025, with the DOJ accounting for roughly a third of the departures, CBS News reported. DOJ's capacity also contracted during that period. The Tax Division reportedly ceased operations, and white-collar enforcement was scaled back.
Firms took in much of that talent. The top 200 law firms hired more than 1,100 federal-government attorneys in 2025, more than double the roughly 500 hired in 2024 and 63% above the 2021 transition year, Bloomberg Law reported. Counsel hires tripled and partner hires doubled. The government share of partner-level lateral hiring nearly doubled from its historical 4 to 5 percent, according to FindLaw. Firms expect the experience to generate revenue over time, although these hires typically arrive without an existing client book. By September 2025, some firms had paused their recruitment of former federal lawyers.
Gibson Dunn, Cooley and Paul Weiss built Bay Area white-collar practices around N.D. Cal. veterans
Gilbert's move follows a series of former Northern District prosecutors and SEC officials joining Bay Area defense practices. Gibson Dunn added Jina Choi in 2025. She was formerly Chief of the Corporate and Securities Fraud Section at the N.D. Cal. U.S. Attorney's Office and director of the SEC's San Francisco office, the firm said. Cooley hired N.D. Cal. prosecutor John Bostic, a trial lawyer in the Theranos case, for its Palo Alto office in 2024, Cooley said. Former N.D. Cal. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag is a litigation partner and co-chair of the White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group at Paul Weiss.
These firms are competing for the same work and the partners who handle it. Jenner ranked among the top five Big Law hirers of federal-government attorneys in 2025, alongside WilmerHale, Covington & Burling, Latham & Watkins and Holland & Knight, Bloomberg Law reported.
Bay Area investigations work is drawing senior prosecutors as DOJ enforcement narrows
Government investigations and white-collar defense in the Bay Area are drawing senior prosecutors into private practice as DOJ's enforcement capacity narrows. Jenner's San Francisco office is five years old and has grown through the same hiring channel as its rivals. Gilbert adds a national-security and cyber enforcement background to a practice co-chaired by Brandon Fox.
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