Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has bolstered its London corporate crime practice with the hire of Mukul Chawla QC.

Chawla, who joins from Foundry Chambers, has experience of matters including fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering, sanctions and export control, tax and antitrust offences. He was called to the Bar in 1983 and appointed as a QC in 2001.

His previous experience includes acting as lead adviser to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on its investigation into suspected bribery by Unaoil. He also led the SFO team investigating Libor manipulation and conducted the first Libor manipulation prosecutions in the UK.

He will join BCLP on 8 October and will lead the firm's London corporate crime team.

Commenting on the appointment, Nathan Willmott, the co-head of BCLP's global investigations practice, said: "Our clients are demanding the highest level of support to advise boards and senior management where they face potential corporate criminal liability. Mukul's hire is in order to meet this client demand.

"He has an unparalleled level of insight into the approach of the SFO and other prosecuting bodies, in combination with exceptional expertise in developing and implementing defence strategies where clients are suspected of criminal breaches."

The hire follows a spate of heavyweight moves in the corporate crime space in recent months. In June, litigation specialist Stewarts hired 2 Bedford Row barrister Richard Kovalevsky QC to launch a financial crime and investigations practice at the firm.

This followed Greenberg Traurig's hire of Pinsent Mason's head of global corporate crime Barry Vitou in April, to launch and lead a white-collar defence and special investigations practice in London.

In March, Macfarlanes also launched a white-collar practice with the hire of Eversheds Sutherland corporate crime and investigations head Neill Blundell.