Squire Patton Boggs has hired financial crimes defence lawyer Adam Klauder from consultancy firm Guidehouse to bolster its government investigations and white collar practice on the East Coast. 

 Klauder joins the firm as a partner in its Washington DC office, where he will bring extensive financial crimes defence and compliance expertise in areas such as economic sanctions, export controls, anti-money laundering, anti-corruption and other cross-border regulatory matters. He regularly advises clients on compliance strategy and developing corporate compliance functions across a range of sectors including financial services, healthcare, transportation and others.

Kevin McCart, head of Squire’s global government investigations and white collar practice, said: “Adam’s experience as both an executive and practitioner representing global institutions and government entities on a broad range of compliance and investigatory matters will add significant depth to our practice and help us meet increasing demand.” 

 McCart says the firm is seeing increased demand for international anti-money laundering and sanctions investigations and crypto-related work.

Klauder spent roughly four years as a senior director at Guidehouse, where he helped lead its global investigations and compliance practice. Before that, he spent almost two years at HSBC as global head of sanctions investigations in Washington, having joined from Clifford Chance where he spent 14 years as counsel. 

 He said: “Squire’s global reach and strong track record of defending clients on high profile sanctions and AML engagements made this a natural move for me.”

Klauder is the latest addition to the firm’s global government investigations and white collar practice, following the arrival of Hannah Laming in March from Peters & Peters as its new European practice head. She was joined in London by partner Wayne Barnes from Fulcrum Partners and director Ben Ticehurst from Howard Kennedy. The firm also added former acting US Attorney for the South District of Ohio Vipal Patel in May.

Earlier this week, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison hired two experienced litigation partners – Robert Sperling and Staci Yablon – from Winston & Strawn to strengthen its disputes and investigations capabilities in New York.

 And in June, WilmerHale hired former federal prosecutor turned podcast star Preet Bharara to bolster its investigations team, also in New York.