WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / January 12, 2026 / Stris & Maher LLP is pleased to announce that Christopher M. Rigali, a first-chair trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor, has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, DC. Rigali is a key addition to the firm's national, high-stakes trial practice. The hirings of Rigali and his former DOJ colleague Dmitry Slavin mark a significant step in the firm's recent growth in DC.
Rigali, whose practice will focus on complex business disputes, crisis management, and government investigations, served for over seven years as a Department of Justice prosecutor. He served as Assistant Special Counsel to Special Counsel David Weiss, Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland, and Trial Attorney in the National Security Division's Counterintelligence & Export Control Section. As a first-chair attorney, Rigali successfully tried numerous cases to verdict, litigated cases in federal district courts across the country, and led scores of federal grand jury investigations. He has experience investigating and prosecuting cybercrime, police corruption, money laundering, healthcare fraud, export control and sanctions, counterintelligence, foreign influence, and murder cases, among other matters.
"I'm ecstatic to be joining Stris's nationally recognized trial practice and bolstering this team of A-list litigators," Rigali said. "And I'm especially excited to be joining my former DOJ colleague Dmitry Slavin in DC. We joined this firm because we both wanted to continue trying high-stakes cases, and we anticipate doing so in both the business litigation and government enforcement contexts."
"I couldn't envision a better hire for our DC expansion plans," added Managing Partner Elizabeth Brannen. "Chris is a battle-tested trial lawyer with deep experience in high-stakes litigation, both in private practice and government. He joins our growing ranks of elite former government litigators, including three of our most recent additions: former Vermont U.S. Attorney Nikolas Kerest, DOJ prosecutor Dmitry Slavin, and DOL Appellate Chief Jeff Hahn."
Rigali has deep experience litigating complex and high-stakes matters. As Assistant Special Counsel to Special Counsel Weiss, Rigali was the lead national security prosecutor for the prosecution of a former FBI informant whose false claims of bribery were at the center of an impeachment inquiry into former President Biden. In private practice, he represented a leading daily fantasy sports company in bet-the-company litigation against the New York Attorney General; a major government contractor before the U.S. Supreme Court in a securities fraud suit about SEC disclosure obligations; and a social media giant in internal-and later Executive and Congressional-investigations into Russian actors' malign use of social media in connection with the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Rigali began his legal career clerking for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He received his law, magna cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law, where he received the top awards for oral and written advocacy at the school's intraschool moot court competition. Upon receiving his undergraduate degree from Brown University, Rigali served as a reconnaissance platoon commander in the United States Marine Corps. He is a combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan.
Rigali's addition reflects the firm's continued growth, its further expansion in DC, and its commitment to delivering top trial talent in its clients' most significant disputes.
For more information, please contact:
Elizabeth Brannen
Managing Partner
Stris & Maher LLP
ebrannen@stris.com
(213) 995-6809
SOURCE: Stris & Maher LLP
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/stris-and-maher-expands-dc-presence-with-another-federal-prosecu-1126252
