Former Department of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel Joins O’Melveny
March 2017 by Marc Jacob
The Department of Homeland Security’s
highest-ranking attorney for cybersecurity and technology matters, Kiran Raj, is
joining O’Melveny’s Washington, DC, office as a partner in the Data Security &
Privacy Group and White Collar Defense & Corporate Investigations Practice. He will
work closely with Steve
Bunnell,
the former General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, who rejoined
O’Melveny last month.
As Deputy General Counsel at DHS, Raj worked directly with leaders from corporate
America on the intersection of cybersecurity and privacy with law, policy, and
technology. He held a similar role at the US Department of Justice as Senior Counsel
to the Deputy Attorney General, where he advised DOJ’s senior leadership on
significant issues and managed policy-related matters, with particular focus on
cybersecurity, national security, and civil litigation.
At DHS, Raj also managed the Technology Programs Law Division and oversaw
department-wide intellectual property law matters, including patent, trademark,
copyright, data rights, and related litigation. This was a natural fit given his
previous litigation experience, and electrical engineering and computer science
background. Raj previously worked as lead program manager at Microsoft and in a
wide-ranging role for a startup that included technical leadership, business
development, and marketing efforts.
Raj teaches National Security, Surveillance & Cybersecurity Law at the Antonin
Scalia Law School, George Mason University. He earned his law degree from Emory
University School of Law and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and
computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.