By Eric Barendsen
A longtime veteran of congressional investigations, John Sopko recently left the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he had been chief counsel for oversight and investigations since 2007, to take a position as partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
At Akin Gump, Sopko will concentrate on congressional and other federal investigations.
Steven Ross, head of Akin Gump's congressional investigations practice, says the group was involved in “an incredibly active series of investigations” during the last Congress. Among the practice's recent clients was the New York Yankees.
"Something I've learned from them,” says Ross, “is that when a top-of-the-market talent becomes available, you go after him and you go after him hard."
At his old post, Sopko worked as senior adviser to Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) supervising an oversight strategy that included hundreds of investigations in areas ranging from energy pricing and speculation to the financing of the recovery effort and of health care in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
He also oversaw inquiries into consumer product safety, predatory sales practices in the Medicare Advantage program, nursing home standards, and biological and nuclear weapons security. Previously, Sopko had worked for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security as the Democratic general counsel and chief of investigations and prior to that served for 15 years as the deputy chief counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
His formidable resume also includes stints at the Commerce Department and a private-sector think tank called the Homeland Security Institute. Early in his career, Sopko served in the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section.
"When you look at his experience having worked for committees as an investigative counsel in both the House and the Senate, having worked in the executive branch, having worked as a prosecutor, it is a perfect collection of experiences and talents," Ross says.
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