Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has hired David Rundle as a London office partner to bolster the firm’s white-collar and regulatory investigations team. 

Rundle leaves Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr’s London arm, where he was a counsel, having joined from the Bar in 2014. He is qualified as an attorney at the New York Bar as well as in England and Wales law. 

While dual qualification is not unusual in London, Rundle’s significant experience in transatlantic investigations is, thanks to his experience at Wilmer Hale, working alongside the widely respected Stephen Pollard.

His arrival adds to BCLP’s capabilities in London and New York, both critical financial markets. Rundle routinely represents individuals and companies in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), where he was seconded to the enforcement division earlier in his career, having also spent time at its predecessor, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

He also represents clients in cases brought by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), in line with his financial services practice, which focuses on wholesale markets, financial crime and fintech matters. 

Rundle assists clients with internal investigations and defending senior managers facing reputational, financial, and prosecution risks. His arrival bolsters the firm following Nathan Wilmott’s exit to Ashurst as a senior lateral hire in 2022. 

Fellow barrister Mukal Chalwa KC also retired from the BCLP partnership that same year to return to Foundry Chambers, where he was previously head of chambers. However, he remains a consultant, blending Rundle’s relative youth with his experience. 

Polly James, who succeeded Wilmott in London as co-leader of the global investigations practice, said Rundle’s arrival reflected the firm’s focus on expanding that practice group in London.

“We have a strong presence in the US and David’s experience will be key to our clients with transatlantic investigations mandates,” noted James, saying Rundle’s arrival was a “natural fit” for the expanding firm. BCLP has made over 10 lateral hires in 2023, including, most recently, in order to open an office in Seattle following significant investments in Europe, including recruiting an enhanced Paris litigation and investigations team.  

Rundle’s exit follows six months after his former firm Wilmer Hale made a rare lateral hire in December 2022 when it welcomed white-collar investigations partner Richard Burger, who joined from DWF, where he co-led the corporate investigations team for four years.

Like Rundle, Burger has extensive experience as a regulatory enforcement lawyer and in relation to criminal proceedings, thanks to a spell at the FSA. He also spent 10 years at RPC.