Winston & Strawn Names New D.C. Managing Partner

Updated 3:46 p.m.

Winston & Strawn has named a new managing partner for its Washington office.

Thomas Buchanan, who heads the D.C. office's litigation practice, takes over the reins from Thomas Mills. Buchanan is also co-head of the firm's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act practice and serves on the executive committee. Mills will continue to serve as the head of the firm's health care practice.

Buchanan focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, securities class action litigation, health care fraud, qui tam actions, FCPA and internal investigations. He and partner Dan Webb represented former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski in his criminal prosecution in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Buchanan is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division.

In an interview, Buchanan said that he would build on the groundwork laid by his predecessor. "Tom Mills has run the office for 8 years and he's done a great job guiding us through some tough times," he said. "I don't see a tremendous divergence from the previous game plan."

Buchanan said that all firms are facing tighter financial times, but that Winston's acquisition of attorneys from defunct firms Howrey and Dewey & LeBoeuf helped to bolster the firm's platform.

"With attorneys from Dewey and Howrey, we've done a tremendous job of expanding the IP and antitrust capabilities," Buchanan said. "I think that to be more competitive you want to have a bigger platform. Smart growth is important in this environment."