Former State Department Official Joins Baker Donelson in D.C.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz has hired a former congresswoman who most recently served in the U.S. State Department for its federal public policy group in Washington, the law firm announced on Tuesday.

Former Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) has stepped down as the State Department's special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense to serve as a strategic adviser at Baker Donelson. Tauscher spent seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before joining State in 2009 as under secretary for arms control and international security affairs, a post she held until she became special envoy in February.

Tauscher said she finished everything she wanted to complete at the State Department, noting the ratification of the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. A one-time New York Stock Exchange member and a former American Stock Exchange officer, Tauscher said she was "anxious" to return to the private sector.

"It's just a very exciting time," said Tauscher, who will focus on domestic public policy issues at Baker Donelson. "I've been an admirer of the firm for a very long time."

The announcement of Tauscher's arrival to Baker Donelson came a few weeks after the firm named Scott Campbell the managing director of its Washington office. The D.C. outpost has more than three dozen lawyers and advisers, including former Senator Howard Baker Jr. (R-Tenn.).