Jesse Panuccio, the former third-ranking official at the U.S. Justice Department, has joined Boies Schiller Flexner as a partner, adding a high-ranking veteran of the Trump administration to the ranks of a firm headed by a prominent Democratic lawyer.

Panuccio stepped down from the Justice Department in May, ending a two-year tenure in which he twice stepped into the role of acting associate attorney general, a perch that put him in charge of an expansive portfolio of civil cases, including litigation in defense of Trump administration policies.

Previously a partner at Foley & Lardner, Panuccio entered the Justice Department as the principal deputy associate attorney general under Rachel Brand, who left in 2018 for a top in-house position at Walmart. He reported earning $176,663 in compensation from Foley & Lardner between June 2016 and February 2017, according to a financial disclosure he filed upon arriving at the Justice Department.

Panuccio earlier served as a lawyer for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign and as general counsel to former Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has since been elected to the U.S. Senate.

In an interview Friday, Panuccio said he was drawn to Boies Schiller for its reputation in high-stakes litigation. The firm, he said, also provided a platform to build a litigation and crisis-management practice in both Florida and Washington. "At the end of that process, Boies Schiller really emerged as an excellent option for that," Panuccio said.

Panuccio declined to discuss his law firm search, including any consideration of a return to Foley & Lardner, saying only that he had the "utmost respect" for his former firm.

In Florida, Panuccio said, he can offer a "very deep working knowledge of state government and the regulatory agencies."

"I understand how Tallahassee works and how problems can be solved short of litigation and, sometimes, in litigation," Panuccio said, adding that opportunities might arise for him to also represent the Florida state government.

In May, U.S. Attorney General William Barr named Claire Murray, a former Trump White House lawyer, as Panuccio's replacement. Without a Senate-confirmed associate attorney general, Murray effectively serves as the third-ranking Justice Department official, just as Panuccio did through much of his tenure.

In his resignation letter, Panuccio trumpeted his office's work establishing guidelines for when the Justice Department should advocate for dismissing whistleblower lawsuits alleging fraud against the government. He also pointed to moves to protect free speech on college campuses and a policy change, made early in the Trump administration, that largely prohibits the Justice Department from ordering payments to third-party groups as part of settlement agreements.

David Boies David Boies speaks at the New York City Bar. Photo: David Handschuh/NYLJ

"We are very pleased to welcome Jesse to the firm and excited for our clients to benefit from his wealth of knowledge and expertise working in the highest levels of federal and state governments," said David Boies, the firm's chairman, in a prepared statement. "Jesse's unique background in high-stakes litigation, appeals, and crisis management will complement our firm's leading practice in these areas. He is an exceptional litigator and we are excited to add him to our teams in Washington and Florida."

Boies has at times been outspoken on Trump's attacks on the judiciary.

"When the president of the United States attacks a judge because of the judge's ethnicity or because of who appointed the judge, that undermines the rule of law in the sense that it undermines the independence of the judiciary," Boies reportedly said in January in a conversation with Trump critic George Conway.

Earlier this year, Boies threw his voice in support of a California state law that would require U.S. presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the ballot. (A federal court has since blocked enforcement of the law.)

"The U.S. Constitution gives each state the authority to determine how that state's electors are chosen, limited only by compliance with other constitutional provisions, such as equal protection," Boies said in a statement in July. "No other constitutional provision is implicated or violated by a state's requirement that a presidential candidate disclose tax returns."

Other front-office Justice Department leaders have taken posts in Big Law in recent months. Brett Shumate, a leading trial attorney and former Wiley Rein partner in Washington, jumped to Jones Day. The acting head of the civil rights division, John Gore, returned to Jones Day recently.