WASHINGTON—Veteran litigator and former trial attorney Dan Mauler will serve as The Heritage Foundation’s next general counsel, effective Aug. 5. Mauler, who joined Heritage last year, will continue to serve as general counsel for Heritage Action for America.
Heritage announced Mauler’s promotion Monday. He replaces Christopher Byrnes, who has served as a trusted counselor to Heritage for the past seven years and will be leaving Heritage in August to take a new role as partner with Nelson Madden Black LLP. In his new role, he will focus on religious clients and causes, defending those facing religious persecution and protecting the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
Mauler joined the organization in August 2022 as legal strategy counsel to Heritage and general counsel to Heritage Action.
“It’s a great honor to work alongside such brilliant colleagues doing their part to help our country,” Mauler said. “In my time with Heritage and Heritage Action, conservatives have made great strides to put forward a positive vision for America. There’s still much work to do and I’m looking forward to providing our team with the advice and counsel to achieve our policy goals.”
Before joining Heritage last year, Mauler practiced defamation and constitutional law with Clare Locke LLP, the nation’s preeminent plaintiff-side defamation law firm.
Prior to practicing with Clare Locke, he served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney, where he handled numerous high-profile and sensitive cases involving constitutional claims, challenges to federal regulations, and national security issues. As a line attorney, Mauler was responsible for his own cases and appeared “first-chair” in multiple district courts representing the U.S. government.
In addition to his litigation duties, Mauler was also selected for a detail assignment to the Office of Legal Policy. He served as a nominations counsel and worked on the identification, vetting, and confirmation of judges to the federal bench, including the confirmation of a justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Dan’s impressive work in private practice and during the Trump administration made him an ideal person to join the Heritage team last year. We’re now thrilled that he’s taking on the additional responsibility of general counsel,” said Eric Korsvall, Heritage’s chief operating officer. “At a time when the Left is using increasingly aggressive tactics to advance its agenda, conservatives need top legal talent to go on offense. Dan will provide valuable guidance to Heritage and give us sound counsel on a range of issues.”
Before entering public service, Mauler built a successful commercial litigation practice, first with Hunton & Williams LLP (now Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP) and then with Redmon, Peyton & Braswell, LLP. From early on, his practice led to the courtroom, where he earned wins before both juries and appellate benches in cases involving trade secrets, fraudulent conveyances, and breaches of contract.
Mauler graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center with honors. While there, he served as an articles editor of The Georgetown Law Journal and as the grand jury section editor of The Annual Review of Criminal Procedure (2005).
“We’re grateful to Chris for the many contributions he made during his time at Heritage,” Korsvall said. “He made significant contributions to the organization, managing Heritage’s legal compliance and serving as a resource for the Board of Trustees, leadership, and staff on a wide range of issues. As he embarks on this new role, we’ll be standing behind him as he defends the religious rights of our fellow Americans. We need more people like Chris to take on these important challenges.”
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