ProfessionalsL. Rush Atkinson
![L. Rush Atkinson](/media/3984389/atkinson_l_web.jpg)
Tel: +1-202-223-7473
Fax: +1-202-478-5133
ratkinson@paulweiss.com
ratkinson@paulweiss.com
A partner in the Litigation Department and member of the firm’s Investigations Practice Group, the National Security Practice Group and the Cybersecurity & Data Protection Practice Group, Rush Atkinson is a distinguished former federal prosecutor who has handled complex corporate criminal investigations, white collar litigation, and the nation’s most sensitive national security and cybersecurity matters. He served as a top official in the U.S. Department of Justice, as a member of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office and as a trial attorney handling securities and financial fraud matters.
EXPERIENCE
From 2022 to 2024, Rush was an Associate Deputy Attorney General, serving as one of the most senior counselors to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. His responsibilities covered the DOJ’s most consequential and sensitive decisions, including oversight of multiple special counsel investigations, the DOJ’s efforts against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the DOJ’s January 6 prosecutions.
Rush co-chaired the DOJ’s Corporate Crime Advisory Group, which developed significant revisions to policies governing the prosecution of white collar crime, deferred and non-prosecution agreements, voluntary self-disclosure programs and the use of corporate monitors. Rush was also central to the DOJ’s focus on the intersection of white collar matters and national security, including corporate accountability for sanctions, export control, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations.
Rush separately oversaw the development of new cyber capabilities for the Department, including new units dedicated to investigating and prosecuting federal crimes involving cryptocurrency, ransomware and state-sponsored hacking.
From 2017 to 2019, Rush served as a prosecutor under Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigating Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, where he worked on various strands of the larger investigation, including the indictments of Russian military officers for hacking campaign accounts and the prosecution of two U.S. campaign advisors in connection with their lying to Congress.
As a federal prosecutor and Assistant Chief in the DOJ’s Fraud Section, Rush prosecuted high-profile corporate matters involving market manipulation in foreign exchange markets, securities fraud by public corporate executives, insider trading, FCPA violations, healthcare fraud and other white collar matters. He handled five federal criminal jury trials and supervised dozens of others.
RECOGNITION AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Rush joined the DOJ through the Attorney General’s Honors Program and received numerous distinctions during his time in government service, including the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award in connection with overseeing the DOJ’s response to Russian sanctions and export control evasion, and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for leading the DOJ’s response during the COVID-19 pandemic to fraud and abuse of government aid programs.
Rush has published a variety of academic articles on criminal and national security matters, including in the Georgetown Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review, New York University Law Review and Stanford Journal of International Law. He is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court.