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Former Special Counsel Robert Hur is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice. A seasoned trial lawyer and advocate, he brings decades of experience in government and in private practice, including service in senior leadership positions with the U.S. Department of Justice, to guide clients facing bet-the-company issues and enterprise-threatening crises.
His practice focuses on counseling clients in complex and sensitive matters, including government enforcement and regulatory matters, internal and independent investigations, national security and corporate espionage, cybercrime, corruption, money laundering and financial fraud, and crisis management.
Appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as Special Counsel, Rob enjoys bipartisan respect for his deep experience, professional judgment, and integrity. Unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rob led and set strategic priorities for one of the largest and busiest U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the nation. And as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, he was a member of the Justice Department’s senior leadership team and assisted with oversight of all components of the Department including the National Security, Civil, Criminal, and Antitrust Divisions, all 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also liaised regularly with the White House, Congressional committees, and federal intelligence, enforcement, and regulatory agencies.
Rob has more than two decades of experience with complex, high-value fraud and criminal cases in a range of industries including Life Sciences and Healthcare, Automotive/Transportation, Financial Services, Energy, Technology, and Sports. He has held a number of prominent positions over the course of his impressive government service, including senior leadership roles at the Department of Justice. Most recently, he served as the Special Counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents discovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. and the Delaware residence of President Joe Biden (2023-24). Previously, he served as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland (2018-21), the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General (2017-18), Assistant United States Attorney (2007-14), and Special Assistant and Counsel to Christopher Wray, then-Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division (2005-2007).
Rob is an accomplished trial lawyer. In private practice, he was a member of the trial team that won a clean-sweep acquittal in 2016 for Vascular Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company, in a groundbreaking federal criminal trial involving off-label promotion charges. In 2020, as United States Attorney, he tried and won conviction in an international money-laundering trial that was the first in-person federal jury trial conducted in the Washington, D.C. region during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rob served as Chair of the Asian American Hate Crimes Workgroup, a statewide body formed by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and charged with developing strategies, recommendations, and actions to address the rise in violence and discrimination targeting the Asian American community. He is an active member of the Alliance for Asian American Justice, a national pro bono initiative providing legal services to victims of anti-Asian hate, and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the District of Columbia (APABA-DC).
Rob is a member of the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors, which advises the dean on issues including the legal profession, legal education and curricular initiatives, student admissions, and resource needs. He is also a member of the University System of Maryland (“USM”) Board of Regents, which oversees the system’s academic, administrative, and financial operations; formulates policy; and appoints the USM chancellor and the presidents of the system’s 12 institutions. He is a barrister with the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, an invitation-only professional organization specializing in white-collar prosecution and defense. Rob has also been appointed to the United States District Court Magistrate Judge Selection Panel by Chief Judge George Russell III. This panel interviews and recommends applicants for magistrate judge positions in the District of Maryland.
Rob served as a law clerk for the late William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, and for Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and won the Kirkwood Moot Court Competition. He received his A.B., magna cum laude with highest honors, from Harvard College and studied philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge in England.
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