WASHINGTON — Law firm Kirkland & Ellis is hiring top national security attorney Ivan Schlager, it announced Wednesday, the latest in a string of high-profile hires for the firm.
Schlager, who specializes in national security and regulatory issues, particularly Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, will join from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Schlager will join Kirkland at a time the U.S. is tightening its oversight of the potential risks that come with outside investments.
In 2018, the U.S. passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, in which CFIUS outlined its goal for a broader reach. The decision came amid increasing concern that minority investments would allow foreign buyers to bring back critical technologies. There was also worry companies were making supply-chain investments that served as a foundation for technology that posed a risk to the U.S.
Schlager has decades of experience in the evolution of foreign investment regulation. As former chief counsel and staff director to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Schlager helped draft the 1988 Exon-Florio Amendment, which gave CFIUS the authority to review foreign transactions and impose the obligation to investigate deals involving state-owned buyers.
He joins other partners, including Jonathan Davis and Eric Schiele, who have made the leap to Kirkland in an aggressive hiring push over the past few years. Those hires have helped Kirkland & Ellis put together a formidable mergers and acquisitions business.
"In my interactions with Kirkland over the years, I have been continually impressed with their extensive M&A/private equity platform," Schlager said in a statement. "This is an incredible opportunity to pursue new challenges as I embark on the next chapter of my career."
Kirkland & Ellis did not say when Schlager will start, noting he will join "upon completing obligations at his current firm."