Reed Smith has hired Lewis Zirogiannis from General Electric Co., a longtime client of the firm, as a partner for its global regulatory enforcement practice in San Francisco.

At GE, Zirogiannis has served as chief compliance officer and executive counsel for GE Digital, the industrial conglomerate's internet software business based in San Ramon, California. Zirogiannis joined GE in 2012 at its former headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, where he served as managing director of supervisory affairs and chief compliance officer for GE Energy Financial Services.

“It was a decision to return to private practice,” said Zirogiannis, regarding his move back into Big Law. “I really have an interest in returning back to private practice, taking the skills I have learned in-house, representing my clients in-house and hopefully being able to use that in a positive way as an outside lawyer for companies as well.”

Zirogiannis began his legal career as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and subsequently served as a federal judicial law clerk in the Southern District of New York for U.S. District Judge Richard Berman. In 2005, Zirogiannis joined Hughes Hubbard & Reed as a senior litigation associate in New York. He spent a little more than three years at the firm before joining Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's New York office in late 2008.

After a year at Wilson Sonsini, where he represented a client caught up in a dispute with cosmetics billionaire Ronald Perelman, Zirogiannis took a job as associate general counsel and global anti-corruption officer at insurance giant American International Group Inc.

“Each role you try to grow, each role you try to take and learn from the things you have done in the prior role,” said Zirogiannis about his career.

At Reed Smith, Zirogiannis hopes to take the skills he has aggregated from his time in the judicial system, law firms and in-house to assist its clients in regulatory and compliance matters.

“We at Reed Smith have for many years known and worked with Lewis, a longtime leader at our client, GE,” said a statement from David Thompson, Reed Smith's San Francisco managing partner. “His exceptional credentials and experience run the full gamut of regulatory and compliance law. We couldn't be more pleased that he is joining the firm.”

Reed Smith's San Francisco office will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year. The outpost stems from the Am Law 100 firm's merger with California's Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May, a union that went live on Jan. 1, 2003. The office, which now has 93 lawyers, focuses on transactional, litigation and counseling services. Zirogiannis' arrival is part of the firm's strategy to grow in the region.

Earlier this month, Reed Smith reeled in a three-lawyer team from Steptoe & Johnson for its public pension fund and tax wealth planning practices, a lateral group that includes partner Jennifer Krengel in San Francisco. Reed Smith also brought back ex-partner Paul Mohun last year in San Francisco, where he was an associate general counsel at The Gap Inc., and added a five-lawyer Morrison & Foerster state and local tax team in the city.

Reed Smith, which saw its gross revenue and partner profits rise in 2017, now has 65 lawyers working in its global regulatory enforcement practice. The 1,550-lawyer firm has four offices in California composed of nearly 200 lawyers, 86 of them partners. Reed Smith's operations did take a hit in 2016 when a large group of financial services litigators moved to McGuireWoods, which promptly set up its own base in the Bay Area.