The strategy behind some Big Law hires are easier to explain than others. Consider Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn's addition this week of Steven Wernikoff among them.

Wernikoff is a 17-year veteran of the Federal Trade Commission, where he most recently served as enforcement director for the agency's Office of Technology Research and Investigation, a division focused on new technologies such as data collection and autonomous vehicles.

At Honigman, a Detroit-based Am Law 200 firm with deep ties to auto manufacturers and equipment suppliers, Chicago-based Wernikoff will co-chair the firm's just-launched autonomous vehicle group, as well as its cybersecurity and privacy practice. He will help clients navigate new rules related to self-driving cars, such as how they can collect and share data.