Leslee Gilbert has joined Van Scoyoc Associates as a vice president. Photograph courtesy of Van Scoyoc Associates.

There are lots of moves out of the Justice Department to report this week, and one House staffer has crossed over to K Street.

Leslee Gilbert, most recently staff director and counsel for the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, is now a vice president at lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates, where she specializes in science and technology funding. After Republicans took control of the House in 2010, she became the leading staffer on the committee. She had previously been the committee’s Republican staff director.

Litigation boutique MoloLamken has welcomed Justin Shur from the Department of Justice, where he was deputy chief for the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division.

Monica Derbes Gibson, formerly a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Environmental Defense Section, has joined Venable as of counsel in its environmental compliance group.

McDermott Will & Emery has welcomed back Warren Rosborough as a partner in its global antitrust and compliance practice. Rosborough was previously in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, where he was a trial attorney. He was an associate at McDermott from 2004 to 2007.

Baker Hostetler has picked up two partners from Morrison & Foerster. Barry Bretschneider and John“Jack” Corrado have joined the firm’s intellectual property group. Corrado was formerly the head of Morrison & Foerster’s Washington and Northern Virginia litigation groups

Reed Smith’s financial industry group has added W. Thomas Conner as a partner. He came from Sutherland Asbill and Brennan.

George Marcou, formerly a partner at King & Spalding, has become a Washington-based partner at virtual intellectual property law firm Johnson, Marcou & Isaacs. Based in Savannah, Georgia, the virtual firm has employees located throughout the United States, including in the District.

Dechert has hired Alvaro Galindo as international counsel. Galindo, who is admitted to practice in Ecuador but is based in the firm’s Washington office, advises on international arbitration matters. Prior to joining Dechert, he served as director of the International Affairs and Arbitration Unit for the Republic of Ecuador’s Office of the Attorney General.

Photograph courtesy of Caplin & Drysdale.

It’s been a while since we last caught up with Trevor Potter, the Washington lawyer hired by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert to help the star form his super PAC. Since Potter’s first appearance on The Colbert Report last spring, what the former Federal Election Commission (FEC) chairman assumed would be a one-time thing has turned into a regular TV gig. And thanks to Colbert, Potter has landed another celebrity client: the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart. When Colbert decided to run for “President of the United States of South Carolina” leading up to the Republican primary in the state earlier this month, he had to give up control of his super PAC. Colbert handed the reins to Stewart, who then asked Potter to also represent him.

There is now a Facebook fan page dedicated to Potter—a Republican who has also advised Senator John McCain and former president George H.W. Bush. Potter even admits to occasionally getting recognized in public. He chats with us here about what the experience has been like. The interview has been edited for length.

Barton Seaver roasting the wild striped bass. Photograph by Kevin Allen.

When is a Sunday Supper more like a Saturday night dinner party? When it’s hosted by Sarah and Bob Nixon, who seem to know no bounds in making sure their guests have a festive evening—regardless of whether it’s a “school night.” The culinary feast at their Georgetown home was one of the 20 intimate dinners organized to benefit DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table, with tickets going for $550 per person.

The celebrity chefs were Barton Seaver, Teddy Diggs, and radio host Kojo Nnamdi, though Nnamdi happily pointed out that his role was to watch the Giants-49ers NFC title game on the kitchen TV and give updates to Barton and Teddy while they cooked. He performed his job well.

Gail West, Philip and Nina Pillsbury, Togo West, and Yoriko Fujisaki, wife of the Japanese ambassador. Photograph by James R. Brantley.

It’s been 25 years since Arthur M. Sackler gave the Freer Gallery more than 1,000 objects from of his collection of Asian art and artifacts. That’s how the Sackler Gallery was created, a union with the Freer that is known officially as the Smithsonian Museums of Asian Art. Thursday night, a Georgetown party celebrated the beginning of the Sackler anniversary year and his widow’s new gift of $5 million.

The hosts were Michael and Susan Pillsbury, themselves devoted collectors of Asian art. Susan says she started collecting during a previous marriage, and brought her passion for the region with her when she married Michael five years ago. Their home is itself a virtual gallery of remarkable pieces. Asked to point to her favorite, Susan aimed her eye toward a sculpture near the front of the living room. It is from the Song Dynasty. And what so fascinates her about these pieces? “That’s easy,” she said. “Seven thousand years of history.”

Update(2/7/2012): Now it can be confirmed: Donald Trump will get his name on Pennsylvania Avenue, after all. It won’t be at the White House, but at the Old Post Office building, which is almost equidistant from the Capitol and the executive mansion. Today the Government Services Administration chose the Trump organization’s bid to transform the historic building into a mixed-use facility with a Trump luxury hotel, restaurants, and more.

Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, was the family member who handled the negotiations and worked with architect Arthur Cotton Moore. Here’s the story we reported recently:

A year after Donald Trump tried to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, it appears he might end up on the street, after all.

Arthur Cotton Moore is the Washington architect who did the last redesign of the Old Post Office Building in the 1980s. The General Services Administration is currently taking proposals for a new redevelopment of the late-19th-century building that looms over Pennsylvania Avenue. Overheard at lunch was Moore saying he’s been hired by the Trump Organization to handle its design and bid, and that a decision from GSA is expected in the next few weeks.

So we had to know: Does this mean that if the Trump Organization wins the bidding, Donald Trump’s name (which he likes to slap on everything) will be on the building? Moore smiled and nodded. “Yes, but it will be small.” He said the Trump proposal calls for ground-level retail and a luxury Trump International hotel.

Moore also said that for this project he’s been working with Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and Ivana, who he referred to as “beautiful, delightful and capable.”

We called Ivanka Trump’s office, but have not heard back. A GSA spokesman would say only that a decision is expected “in early 2012.”

WRC-TV anchor Jim Vance, who served as emcee; “Washingtonian” publisher Catherine Merrill Williams; former senator George Allen; “Washingtonian” chairman Eleanor Merrill; and Susan Allen.

The Washingtonian celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Washingtonian of the Year Awards and honored the 2011 Washingtonians of the Year at a luncheon at the Willard InterContinental yesterday. Nearly 250 guests and past winners celebrated the spirit of community service and volunteerism that the awards represent. News4 anchor Jim Vance served as emcee and revealed the “dark side” of colleague Tom Sherwood, who was one of the honorees.

“He tweets,” Vance joked. “He’s too old to tweet.”

Among the attendees was former senator George Allen, whose father, legendary Redskins coach George Allen, was the first to receive the award in 1971. Sponsored by Allstate Insurance, the Washingtonian of the Year luncheon honored eight local heroes—Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, Virginia volunteer Hecda Cuadros, Arlington Free Clinic director Nancy Sanger Pallesen, philanthropist Catherine Reynolds, foster parents Fatima and Ibrahim Savage, reporter Tom Sherwood, Arena Stage artistic director Molly Smith, and Robert Zagorski, who devotes 250 days a year to volunteer service.

See the 2011 Washingtonians of the Year.

Mark Spitzer, a former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has landed at Steptoe & Johnson. Photograph courtesy of Steptoe & Johnson.

The revolving door has been busy this month. Several federal agency attorneys have entered private practice:

Steptoe & Johnson has added former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commissioner Marc Spitzer to its energy practice. Spitzer, who joined Steptoe as a partner, served for five years as a commissioner.

Robert Stoll, who was commissioner for patents at the US Patent and Trademark Office until his retirement late last year, is now a partner in Drinker Biddle & Reath’s intellectual property practice.

The intellectual property firm Novak Druce + Quigg has also welcomed a new partner from the Patent and Trademark Office: Michael O’Neill, who most recently served in the Patent and Trademark Office as an administrative patent judge for the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences.

Hogan Lovells added Adam Kushner as a partner in its environment practice. Kushner joins the firm from the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as director of the Office of Civil Enforcement.