Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP congratulates its recently retired partner Glenn S. Gerstell, whose appointment as the General Counsel of the National Security Agency, in Washington, DC, was announced yesterday.
Mr. Gerstell will manage more than 100 lawyers at the 63-year-old agency, which advises the Executive Branch and Congress on intelligence-gathering and surveillance in safeguarding US government communications and information systems. He will be among senior NSA decision-makers advising NSA director Admiral Michael Rogers, and will also serve as an agency spokesperson on matters of public interest.
Milbank chairman Scott Edelman said, “Glenn will be a tremendous resource for the National Security Agency. He is a vastly experienced advisor on technology, cybersecurity and infrastructure and has a natural gift for managing people and carrying out policy. We’re gratified to see him appointed to a critical oversight post richly commensurate with his abilities. On behalf of the firm, I congratulate him.”
Throughout his 39-year career at Milbank, Mr. Gerstell demonstrated a commitment to public service on the city, national, and international levels. President Obama appointed him to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which makes recommendations to the president and executive branch on security threats to infrastructure nationwide. Mr. Gerstell also serves on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission, which provides oversight of the District’s emergency response and homeland security capabilities. He earlier chaired the board of directors of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority.
He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council; a trustee of the non-partisan Federal City Council, which focuses on Washington, DC, city issues; a director of Trickle Up, a New York-based charity that works on solutions to extreme poverty worldwide; and is the only non-diplomat elected as a member of The American Academy of Diplomacy (for which he served as outside counsel for over two decades while at Milbank).
Managing partner of Milbank’s Washington office for 18 years, Mr. Gerstell also served in the firm’s New York, Singapore and Hong Kong offices, and was managing partner in the latter two offices. Mr. Gerstell retired on June 30 to enter federal government service. At the time, he was head of Milbank’s global communications practice which receives regular recognition around the world. He also headed Milbank’s India practice until his retirement. Throughout his career, Mr. Gerstell handled complex financial, acquisitions and commercial transactions for a variety of companies and debt and equity investors and was involved in cross-border infrastructure development projects and M&A, particularly in emerging markets in Asia and Latin America.
For the past several years he has been on LawDragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” and has been ranked in the top tiers of Chambers, Euromoney and other guides to the legal profession.
Mr. Gerstell earned his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and his B.A. from New York University.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy is a leading international law firm that has been providing innovative legal solutions to clients throughout the world for nearly 150 years. Milbank is headquartered in New York and has offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC.
The firm’s lawyers provide a full range of legal services to the world’s leading commercial, financial and industrial enterprises, as well as to institutions, individuals and governments. Milbank’s lawyers meet the needs of its clients by offering a highly integrated and collaborative range of services across key practice groups throughout its global network. Milbank’s integrated practice is underpinned by its attorneys’ acknowledged technical excellence, sectorial experience and a strong tradition of innovation and client service.
