Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP welcomes back Michael J. Edney to its Washington, D.C. office after four years of high-level Executive Branch experience in the White House and the Department of Justice. Edney rejoins the approximately 125-lawyer litigation practice group in the Washington, D.C. office, including more than a dozen former Department of Justice attorneys. Edney will focus on representing clients involved in complex civil litigation or facing investigation by the government.

From 2007 to 2009, Edney served as a principal legal advisor to the National Security Council in the White House. In that position, he participated in crafting and implementing the Administration’s response to national security legal matters in the courts, before Congress, and in the public. Edney has extensive expertise in issues dealing with international law, foreign governments, congressional investigations and oversight, and national security.

"Michael's experience in the government, in the courtroom and in congressional investigations is a perfect fit with the firm's litigation and white collar practices," said Karen Manos, Co-Partner in Charge of the Washington, D.C. office. "We are excited to have Michael return to the firm, especially as we enter into a period of greater enforcement and increased demand for attorneys with intricate knowledge of the federal government and the tested ability to handle legal crises when the stakes are the highest."

Edney resumes his litigation practice at Gibson Dunn after a four-year absence. He joined the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice in 2005, where he provided legal advice on the most difficult constitutional and statutory issues facing the Executive Branch, managed multiple litigation matters on behalf of the United States, and represented the United States before international tribunals. He brings to Gibson Dunn a wide knowledge of the Department of Justice’s civil litigation and criminal enforcement practices. In 2007, he joined the National Security Council staff in the White House, where he served among a small group of legal crisis management experts responsible for national security and international law matters. His responsibilities included advising senior White House policymakers and reaching consensus among the senior lawyers of the Executive Branch on the most serious national security legal questions confronting the Nation.

Edney graduated with high honors from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Articles Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review, was enrolled in the Order of the Coif, and won the Joseph Henry Beale Prize for outstanding legal writing. He clerked for Judge Danny J. Boggs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.