Washington ? In a move much anticipated by the Washington law and lobbying community, former Senate Republican leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole, R-Kan., has decided to join the Atlanta-based law firm Alston & Bird.

When it became clear that his previous perch, the D.C. firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, was in serious talks to be acquired by Piper Rudnick last year, more than 20 firms approached Dole about signing on with them instead, according to his lawyer Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly.

“I did a lot of looking. People wanted to see me,” Dole said in an interview Tuesday. “Verner, Liipfert was a good home. … But I wanted to think about where I would make my last move.”

Two observers of the wooing of Dole said the Alston & Bird deal meant more than $1 million a year to the former senator, a severely wounded World War II hero who has become popularly known in recent years for his wry wit, television advertisements and marriage to Elizabeth Dole, who won election to the Senate from North Carolina last year.

Dole, Barnett and Alston & Bird managing partner Ben Johnson III declined to comment on money.

“No firm is going to make a deal that doesn’t make economic sense,” said Barnett, who has negotiated lucrative deals for a number of prominent politicians and journalists. He added that Dole is one of a small number of people in Washington whose “presence at a law firm has special value.”

Dole’s clients include Kosovo, Taiwan and Slovenia, among other countries. He has also been registered to lobby on behalf of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Earlier, he represented Tyco and the Chocolate Industry Coalition.

While he’ll be advising clients on how to lobby the Hill, helping to open doors and recruiting clients, Dole says he won’t be lobbying his former colleagues in the Senate — or his wife.

“I never thought that was my bag after being leader,” Dole said.

Dole almost assuredly will boost the national profile of the 675-lawyer Alston & Bird. Proud of his firm’s lawyers, Johnson said “not withstanding that, Alston & Bird is still perceived as an Atlanta-based firm. … We need to be seen as having more of a presence in Washington and New York. … No one can provide you what a Bob Dole can provide you.”