Trump HHS General Counsel Charrow Returns to Greenberg Traurig

Robert Charrow, former general counsel for the Health and Human Services Department during the Trump administration, has rejoined Greenberg Traurig LLP, a spokesperson told Bloomberg Law.

Charrow oversaw more than 600 attorneys at the HHS and led the agency in its legal response to the Covid-19 pandemic, drug pricing, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicare reimbursement. He was a member of the Operation Warp Speed team that worked to develop and produce Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and therapeutics.

He previously worked at Greenberg Traurig and in the HHS general counsel’s office during Republican administrations. He rejoins as a senior chairman of the firm’s health care and FDA practice.

“Bob’s experience is a source of pride for the firm and will undoubtedly prove to be of value to our clients,” practice co-chair Nancy Taylor said in a statement.

“There are few entities today not touched by the various aspects of health care and its impact on a global economy, national, and multinational corporations, governmental and non-governmental agencies and functions, and individual employers,” she said.

The HHS’s Office of the General Counsel under Charrow was seen as more willing to risk lawsuits to push through policy changes.

Charrow told lawmakers during his 2017 confirmation hearing that he would uphold the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration, including the HHS, later backed a lawsuit aiming to strike down the law.

“Having him rejoin at this time speaks to his and our commitment to Washington, D.C. and to the many stakeholders in an industry thrust into the limelight by the global health crisis—as well as our ability to serve the many private equity investors so active in the space,” Richard Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurig’s executive chairman, said in a statement.

Charrow is a graduate of Stanford Law School. His writing was cited in a Supreme Court decision for Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, which set standards for when scientific evidence is admissible at federal trials.