Arya Hariharan

Arya Hariharan is a public policy and regulation attorney in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office who focuses her practice on congressional oversight, government investigations, political risk, crisis management and legislative strategy.

Ms. Hariharan has more than a decade of experience advising congressional leadership and policymakers on high-profile investigations, impeachments, political strategy and national security matters. She has extensive experience managing complex congressional investigations, preparing members of Congress and witnesses for hearings and depositions, developing investigative strategies, drafting committee materials and navigating oversight involving the executive branch, federal agencies and private sector stakeholders. Her congressional work has been covered by the BBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, Reuters, Associated Press, ProPublica, The Wall Street Journal and other national and global outlets.

In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Hariharan is a frequent speaker on national security policy issues, congressional investigations, oversight, impeachment proceedings and legislative and political strategy. While in government, she held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level security clearance.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Hariharan served as chief oversight counsel to Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In this role, she advised on congressional investigative strategy, policy development and public messaging related to executive branch oversight and other high-profile matters, as well as Senate impeachment trials. She managed investigations involving public corruption, immigration, cybersecurity, surveillance, judicial ethics, federal detention facilities, high-profile judicial and U.S. Department of Justice nominations, as well as select oversight matters in budget reconciliation.

Previously, Ms. Hariharan served as chief oversight counsel and deputy chief oversight counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary under Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). In those roles, she played a central role in dozens of congressional investigations and multiple impeachment proceedings, where she developed investigative and legislative strategy, drafted committee materials, managed high-profile hearings and depositions, and prepared sensitive witnesses, including celebrities and whistleblowers, for testimony and members of Congress for public questioning and media engagements. For the House Judiciary Committee, she led investigations into sensitive matters relating to public corruption, digital markets, data brokers, anticompetitive behavior, counterterrorism, defense and cybersecurity matters, among a variety of other issues. She also advised and led negotiations on bipartisan legislation involving national security, privacy, cybersecurity, foreign and domestic surveillance, cross-border data transfers and counter-unmanned aircraft systems.

In addition, Ms. Hariharan served as legislative director and senior legislative counsel in the office of Rep. Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr. (D-Ga.).

While in law school, Ms. Hariharan served as executive editor of the William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review and was a founding editor of the William & Mary Business Law Review.

Not admitted to District of Columbia Bar; admitted to Virigina Bar only and practicing under supervision of lawyers licensed to practice in the District of Columbia.