Biden’s ATF Chief Dettelbach Rejoins BakerHostetler as Litigator

President Joe Biden’s last head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was hired by BakerHostetler, where he’s slated to eventually lead the firm’s hundreds of litigators.

Steven Dettelbach, who served as ATF’s director until last week, is set to rejoin the Cleveland-headquartered law firm in April as a partner in its 400-attorney litigation practice group and a member of the white collar, investigations and securities enforcement, and litigation team, according to a news release. He will will also take over as chair of the firm’s litigation group by Jan 1, 2026, succeeding W. Ray Whitman.

Dettelbach will be based in the Cleveland and Washington, DC offices in his third stint with BakerHostetler. The former federal prosecutor plans to represent businesses and people in lawsuits, corporate probes, white-collar cases, and regulatory investigations, among others, according to the release. He said his experience heading an agency with 5,000-plus employees should prove attractive to corporations with similar or larger head counts.

As for what the Justice Department will prioritize under President Donald Trump, and ultimately inform much of the work he expects to do, “the jury is still out,” Dettelbach said.

“The only thing that proves to be a certain in this world is change,” he continued. “You have to have a team of lawyers that’s equipped to guide clients through where there’s uncertainty.”

The Senate confirmed Dettelbach as ATF’s director in July 2022, the first time the agency had a confirmed director since 2015. He cited drops in violent crime during his tenure leading the agency as one of his proudest accomplishments.

“Anybody who thinks that happens by accident is fooling themselves,” he said.

Dettelbach was also with BakerHostetler from 2006 to 2009 and 2016 to 2022. He served as US attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2009 to 2016 and mounted an unsuccessful bid for Ohio attorney general as a Democrat in 2018.

“His experience overseeing high-performing teams as US attorney and director of the ATF, coupled with his prior tenure at BakerHostetler, make him the ideal choice to chair our national Litigation Practice Group,” firm Chairman Paul Schmidt said in the release.