Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the City law firm, has launched an American litigation practice with the hire of three prominent former federal prosecutors.

In a move that highlights the increasing threat companies are facing from prosecution for violating anti-corruption and financial reporting laws, Freshfields has recruited Benito Romano, formerly New York’s chief corruption investigator during the insider trading scandals of the late 1980s.

Mr Romano will join the firm at the end of this month from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the blue-chip Wall Street firm.

Aaron Marcu and Adam Siegel, two other former Assistant US Attorneys, will also join Freshfields as partners. Both were previously partners at Covington & Burling.

Based in New York, the three will focus on advising large companies facing probes by regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

They will also conduct internal corporate investigations to ensure that clients are complying with anti-corruption laws — an increasingly lucrative area of work for major law firms in the US and Europe.

Ted Burke, chief executive of Freshfields, said: “We are delighted to be joined by three such outstanding lawyers.

“We have seen a significant increase in work in our contentious regulatory practice, particularly in the financial institutions sector. Aaron, Benito and Adam will, as part of our existing international team, enable us to offer our clients a first-rate litigation service on a truly global basis.”

The appointment of three such experienced litigators will be seen as a coup for Freshfields, particularly as British firms have so far struggled to make an impression on the American legal market.

Previously, the firm did not have a traditional litigation team in its New York office, although it does have several arbitration partners based there.

alex.spence@thetimes.co.uk

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