Top Sanctions Lawyer Nabs Dual Leadership Role at Jenner & Block

Rachel Alpert, the recently departed chief lawyer of the Treasury Department’s sanctions enforcement office, has rejoined Jenner & Block as a partner leading the national security and human rights practices, she said in an interview.

Alpert’s tenure at the Office of Foreign Assets Control led her to oversee a wide range of international relations issues in the latter half of President Joe Biden’s term and the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second administration, including enforcement actions against institutions with business ties to hostile foreign countries. In her new job, she’ll advise clients on complying with national security policies and help companies follow human rights laws.

“This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of policies that the government puts out—the true impact is how companies understand and comply with them,” she said in an interview. “If people don’t understand the sanctions being put out by OFAC, they won’t carry them out as intended.”

Rachel Alpert

The time Alpert spent at the Treasury Department agency responsible for administering sanctions in line with the US’s national security agenda marked a less than two-year hiatus from her time in private practice at Jenner & Block. She previously practiced at the firm from 2020 to 2023, helping expand the two practice areas she oversees.

“The human rights and global strategy group had just come into being when I joined Jenner and I helped continue its evolution,” she said. “I’m excited to see what’s been done with it in the last few years.”

In 2023, she applied for the job at OFAC. The first executive order she drafted was a 2023 directive targeting foreign financial institutions doing business with Russia’s military-industrial base, she said. She was “proud” to work on an executive order that saw the cessation of sanctions against Syria, which President Trump announced in June, Alpert said.

Since leaving that job in August, Alpert has been succeeded by acting chief counsel David Horn, a colleague who worked with her as assistant chief counsel, she said.

Shoba Pillay and Shreve Ariail, co-chairs of the firm’s national security and crisis practice, said in a joint statement that Alpert’s background is invaluable “at a time when sanctions, central tools of foreign policy, are impacting businesses and organizations across the globe.”