23 Mar 2026
Greenberg Traurig Expands Washington Team with Douglas Gansler as Co-Chair and Stephen Ruckman as Shareholder
"Greenberg Traurig has added Douglas Gansler as co-chair and Stephen Ruckman as shareholder in its State Attorneys General Practice in Washington, D.C., bolstering capabilities in AG litigation, privacy, cyber and telecommunications."
Douglas Gansler joins Greenberg Traurig from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he led that firm’s State Attorneys General Practice. He will co-chair Greenberg Traurig’s State Attorneys General Practice alongside Michael A. Berlin. Gansler’s practice focuses on defending clients against attorney general inquiries in civil litigation and regulatory investigations across industries including financial services, health care, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and telecommunications. His public service includes terms as Maryland Attorney General, Special Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, President of the National Association of Attorneys General, Montgomery County State’s Attorney (1999–2007), and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (1992–1998). He has tried more than 50 jury trials and 100 bench trials, argued over 50 appeals in state and federal courts, and secured a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Maryland v. Shatzer. He also serves as an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law.
Stephen Ruckman joins Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. His practice concentrates on federal and state investigations and enforcement actions involving privacy, cyber risk, data security, telecommunications, and technology regulation, with a notable focus on the higher education sector. He served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Federal Communications Commission and as Assistant Attorney General in the Executive Division of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, where he was the first director of the state’s Internet Privacy and Safety Unit and oversaw multistate investigations into internet privacy and data security. Ruckman has litigated matters in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and served five years as senior adviser to the president for policy at Johns Hopkins University, where he led policy planning and co-authored university-wide policies on data retention, intellectual property, and online privacy.