John Walsh, Colorado’s hard-nosed U.S. attorney for six years until last August,  who grew up in Denver, didn’t go far.

He will be a partner in the the Denver office of the law firm WilmerHale. The firm has a couple of other recognizable names on its roster of partners: former U.S. senator and Obama Cabinet member Ken Salazar and Tom Strickland, Colorado’s U.S. attorney from 1999 to 2001, a two-time Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and Salazar’s chief of staff in the Interior Department.

Walsh will lead the office’s litigation practice, including government investigations, crisis management, securities and white-collar criminal litigations.

“The firm’s commitment to its litigation practice is significant, as evidenced by the recent addition of former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and I look forward to helping increase its visibility and success in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain West and nationally,” Walsh said in a statement.

As U.S. attorney in Colorado, Walsh managed an office of 160 lawyers and staff to prosecute terrorism cases, violent crimes, international drug trafficking and human trafficking, as well as investor, securities and healthcare fraud cases.

He was chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys, and co-chairman of its subcommittee on white collar crime, as well as co-chair of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Fraud Working Group.

Before coming home to work in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver, he was chief of the Major Frauds Section as an assistant U.S. attorney  in Los Angeles for eight years.

“John’s professional and personal connections in Colorado and California run deep, and his national experience representing the U.S. Department of Justice strengthens our firm’s government investigations, crisis management and white-collar criminal litigation practices throughout the nation,” Susan Murley, co-managing partner of WilmerHale, stated.

With headquarters in Boston and Washington, D.C., WilmerHale has 1,000 lawyers in 12 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.