Norton Rose Fulbright has expanded its global investigations practice with the hire of a dozen lawyers from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) in the US.

The team is led by four partners – Jeff Kalinowski, Eric Martin and Jeff Ziesman in St. Louis and Laura Perlov in Denver. They will be joined by two senior counsel, two counsel and four associates, also spread across the firm’s St. Louis and Denver offices. Martin joins as the firm’s US head of digital asset disputes.

Jeff Cody, Norton Rose Fulbright’s US managing partner, said: “I am pleased that this remarkable group of lawyers has joined Norton Rose Fulbright, bringing robust practices and valuable experience which will benefit our clients. Their arrival expands our already strong global investigations offering, which will continue to be an area of growth over the coming years.” 

Kalinowski brings with him more than 35 years’ experience representing broker-dealers, investment advisers and securities industry professionals across a range of jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations in the US. He also advises on financial regulatory matters.

Martin arrives after 14 years with BCLP, having been part of the Bryan Cave team that merged with Leighton Paisner in 2018. Prior to that he spent seven years as a partner at Husch Blackwell Sanders, having also worked at predecessor firms Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin and Peper Martin Jensen Maichel & Hetlage before that. He is a trial lawyer and specialises in cryptocurrency, securities and consumer finance matters.

Ziesman, meantime, joins after almost 13 years at BCLP, having previously spent a decade at US regulator FINRA as deputy regional chief counsel. He advises financial institutions on regulatory matters, including examinations, investigations and enforcement proceedings.

And Perlov also arrives after close to 13 years at BCLP, which she joined from Herrick Feinstein. Prior to her career in law, she spent just under two years as a senior associate at audit firm KPMG. Her practice focuses on crisis management around possible investigations, government enforcement and litigation.


Sandeep Savla, co-head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s US regulatory investigations, securities and compliance practice, said: “Companies and their executives across many industries face heightened litigation risk amid increased regulatory scrutiny, and clients look to Norton Rose Fulbright for guidance on these issues. These lawyers are highly regarded in this space, and I am delighted to welcome them to the team.”

Last month, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom made a twin partner hire to bolster its financial regulatory team in the US with the arrivals of Adam Cohen and Mark Chorazak from SoFi and Shearman & Sterling respectively. And in March, McDermott Will & Emery hired a seven-strong team from Orrick to grow its investigations and white collar practice.