Raj De serves on Mayer Brown’s global Management Committee. He was previously the Managing Partner of Mayer Brown’s Washington DC office. He leads the firm’s global Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice, as well as the firm’s National Security practice, and serves as a member of the firm’s Congressional Investigations & Crisis Management team. After nearly two decades in private practice and public service across all three branches of the United States government, Raj is one of the most trusted voices in Washington. He has held senior appointments in the White House, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Defense (DOD). Raj returned to Mayer Brown in 2015 after serving as General Counsel at the US National Security Agency (NSA). Since returning to the firm, Raj has received numerous recognitions, including by American Lawyer (“Lateral All-Star”), Washingtonian magazine (“Top Lawyer”), The National Law Journal (“Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer”), and Cybersecurity Docket (“Incident Response 30”).

As General Counsel of the NSA, Raj served as the agency’s chief legal officer and senior advisor to the NSA Director. He supervised an office of approximately 100 lawyers and staff that provides legal advice across a range of issue areas, including foreign intelligence, cybersecurity, government contracts, intellectual property, research and technology, administrative law, government ethics and pending legislation. Prior to his service at the NSA, Raj served in the White House as Staff Secretary and Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice. Raj started his career at DOJ, where he was a trial lawyer in the Antitrust Division under the Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Raj has also had significant congressional experience over the course of his career. He served as Counsel to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the “9/11 Commission”), as well as to a special bipartisan staff of the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. During his earlier time as a partner at Mayer Brown, Raj served on a pro bono basis as General Counsel to the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

Raj clerked for the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California. He graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard College.

Today, Raj serves in various roles that build upon his Washington legal and policy experience, including: Board of Directors, Southern Center for Human Rights; Central Intelligence Agency, General Counsel’s External Advisory Board; Senior Advisor, Homeland Security & Defense Business Council; American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Law and National Security; Third Way, Cyber Enforcement Initiative, Advisory Board; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Cyber Governance, NYU School of Law Center on Law and Security.