By David Thomas

Jan 28 (Reuters) - U.S. law firm Sidley Austin said Tuesday it has hired a longtime federal prosecutor who served as the third highest-ranking member of Justice Department's criminal division during the Democratic Biden administration.

Lisa Miller will join Chicago-founded Sidley on Feb. 19 as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm said. Miller was appointed deputy assistant attorney general in DOJ's criminal division in 2021, overseeing the division's fraud and appellate sections.

Miller's move reunites her with Kenneth Polite, who led the criminal division before resigning in August 2023. Miller, part of a wave of Biden political appointees who have left Justice Department roles since Republican President Donald Trump took office, said she was eager to work in private practice with Polite and Kristin Koehler, managing partner of Sidley's Washington office.

Miller became the first woman to lead the DOJ's market integrity unit in 2020, at a time the team was moving to use data more creatively to spot marketplace misconduct.

Those efforts led to cases against traders who spoofed commodities markets, corporate executives who used corporate trading plans to illegally trade on nonpublic information and to the indictment of a high-profile short seller over allegations of market manipulation.

Miller also helped draft new policies to claw back compensation from executives involved in misconduct.

Top law firms have moved quickly to hire lawyers leaving federal agencies after Trump's election. Miller resigned from government service on inauguration day, Jan. 20.

Government lawyers in other offices have taken positions at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; King & Spalding; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, among other firms.

(Reporting by David Thomas)