New York firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel has significantly bolstered its cryptocurrency practice with the hire of three partners from crypto and fintech law firm DLx Law in a move that will see the firm open an office in Delaware.  

Prominent crypto partner Lewis Rinaudo Cohen has joined Cahill’s digital assets and emerging technologies practice, which has been rebranded as CahillNXT, alongside partner Gregory Strong and newly-minted partner Sarah Chen. 

The new office – Cahill’s fourth after New York, Washington and London – will be led by Strong, a former deputy attorney general in the Delaware Department of Justice.  

Meantime New York-based Cohen, a co-founder of DLx and former Hogan Lovells and Clifford Chance partner, will co-chair CahillNXT with former Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor Samson Enzer, who founded Cahill’s digital assets practice in 2021.  

The hire of the trio from DLx will combine their regulatory expertise with Enzer’s experience in dispute resolution, including government enforcement actions and litigation, in a move intended to create a one-stop shop for clients looking for cryptocurrency-related advice.

“Lewis is a trailblazer, having co-founded one of the first law firms focusing on clients engaging with the digital asset space,” Enzer said. “He and his colleagues built a leading Web3-focused legal brand through a singular focus on the needs of clients working in the blockchain space.

“By joining forces as CahillNXT, our team has the capacity to handle the most significant and complex legal and business challenges the industry faces, from helping our clients structure, develop and launch projects that involve the use of crypto assets, to defending them in civil and criminal litigation or regulatory enforcement matters.”

Enzer prosecuted some of the earliest cryptocurrency cases brought by the US Attorney’s Office for the SDNY and is currently representing crypto exchange Binance in litigation related to the collapse of FTX. Other high-profile clients include Coinbase and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, who has been accused by the DOJ of conspiring to launder $4.5bn in Bitcoin stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex hack.  

Cohen is one of only seven lawyers ranked Band 1 for US blockchain-related work by the legal rankings guide Chambers & Partners and focuses on the use of blockchain, crypto assets and tokenisation across all aspects of the capital markets and all areas of economic activity.  

Strong provides regulatory and litigation advice to clients working with blockchain and crypto assets with a focus on securities, commodities and consumer protection laws and regulations. He has represented clients before regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.  

New York-based Chen advises clients on all matters in the space of digital assets and emerging technology, including general corporate, M&A, venture capital investments, securities and financial regulatory matters. She joined DLx in 2022 having been an associate at Paul Weiss and earlier practised at Ropes & Gray.  

Following the trio’s arrival CahillNXT’s lawyer headcount stands at 24, including seven partners.  

Also moving over from DLx is a non-lawyer coder and developer, who joins Cahill as a consultant and is intended to “help clients bridge the gap between code and law”.

Following the departure of Cohen, Strong and Chen, DLx has named founding partner Angela Angelovska-Wilson as managing partner. The firm wished the departing lawyers well in a statement earlier this week.