Rick Sofield is a partner and Co-Head of the firm’s National Security Group based in Washington, D.C. His practice focuses on matters with national security implications.
Recommended by Chambers Global (2024), Mr. Sofield represents financial institutions, private equity sponsors and public and private companies across financial services, technology, healthcare, energy, industrial and defense sectors advisers, on cross-border transactions and investments with national security implications, including security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the mitigation of foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI) under industrial security regulations administered by the U.S. Defense Security Service and the U.S. Department of Energy, and the review of Federal Communications Commission license applications by Team Telecom, an interagency group of regulators, as well as export controls and other national security matters.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Sofield was a federal government lawyer for nearly 25 years. He served as the Director of the Foreign Investment Review Staff for the National Security Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In that role, he oversaw DOJ’s participation in CFIUS, including the review of more than 1,000 acquisitions and efforts to prohibit multiple transactions on national security grounds. He also served as Chair of Team Telecom, which determines whether certain foreign ownership applications before the FCC create law enforcement or national security concerns.
Mr. Sofield received his J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law in 1994 and his A.B. from Harvard University in 1991.