Andrew Boutros, with Dechert.

Dechert has hired this week former federal prosecutor Andrew Boutros from Seyfarth Shaw to serve as regional chair of the firm's U.S. white-collar practice.

Boutros, who will be based in Chicago and Washington, D.C., was the national co-chair of Seyfarth's white-collar, internal investigations and false claims team. He had been at the firm since 2015, after leaving the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.

"Dechert has been a very attractive firm to me for quite some time. As luck would have it, we share at least one large client," Boutros said in an interview, declining to name the client. "It became obvious at some point that we could have 2+2=5, in that the platform and the relationships I have with this client could result in even more opportunities and synergies which we were excited to be able to share together."

Boutros also noted that client conflicts at Seyfarth also contributed to his decision to leave, but he had fond words for his former colleagues.

"I have a lot of very dear friends at Seyfarth. I've left on the best of terms," he said. "I wish them the very best and I'm very grateful for four wonderful years."

A spokesman for Seyfarth did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the U.S. attorney's office, Boutros worked in the financial crimes and special prosecutions section, leading cases that included convicting the world's largest drug trafficker on the dark website "Silk Road," as part of the multidistrict Silk Road Task Force and convicting one of the country's "Top 10 Most Wanted" mortgage fraud defendants. Boutros also successfully prosecuted what Bloomberg Businessweek described as "the largest food fraud in U.S. history," a matter involving a series of customs fraud, food fraud and international trade fraud cases.

His recent work in private practice has included representing Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. as a plaintiff in IP litigation.

"We just wrapped a one-month trial with them in Texas earlier this summer," he said, in a case that wrapped in a "take nothing" judgment for both sides.

Boutros' practice also includes government enforcement defense, criminal trials, internal investigations, false claims litigation, crisis management response, strategic counseling and compliance-related work. Other clients include the audit committee of one of the world's largest food and beverage companies.

"We are excited to have Andrew on board. His experience working on high-profile national and international matters combined with his market knowledge across jurisdictions where our clients do business make him a strong fit for Dechert's global team," Dechert chairman Andrew Levander said in a statement.

Boutros is also a published author, having edited a volume on international corruption for Oxford University Press and penned a book on compliance for the American Bar Association. He has also been teaching on corporate criminal prosecutions and investigations at the University of Chicago Law School for the last 10 years.

The news came a day after Dechert announced it had also added former Philadelphia city solicitor Sozi Tulante to its white-collar defense practice as a partner.

Read More

How Drama Is Helping Dechert Shrink Its Gender Gap

Dechert Strikes Again With Third Sidley Partner Hire This Month

Dechert Cracks $1B in Revenue in Big Hiring Year