International law firm King & Spalding today announced that former Acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has returned to the firm as a partner on its Special Matters & Government Investigations team. Her global practice will be based primarily in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.

Yates, a 27-year veteran of the Department of Justice, rose through the ranks of Assistant U.S. Attorneys to become U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, Deputy Attorney General, and Acting Attorney General. As Deputy AG from January 2015 through 2017, she served as the second-highest ranking official in the Department and was responsible for managing its day-to-day operations and its 113,000 employees. She oversaw all prosecutorial, litigation, and national security components, as well as all U.S. Attorneys’ offices and Justice Department law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons. She is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center focused on public policy.

While Deputy Attorney General, Yates was responsible for overseeing the Department’s most significant matters and for crafting and implementing initiatives focused on many of the agency’s strategic priorities, including corporate fraud, cyber-crime, and financial crime.Prior to assuming her duties as Deputy Attorney General, Yates served for five years as the first female U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before entering government service, Yates worked as a King & Spalding civil litigation associate from 1986 to 1989. Yates is the sixth former federal prosecutor to join King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations team in the past year.

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