Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has recruited a four-partner litigation team from Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw for its New York office.

The team is led by Dennis Orr, a prominent player in the New York litigation market who has handled more than 30 federal and state court trials.

The other partners in the group are Thomas Mueller, Grant Esposito and Stefan Engelhardt. All four have worked together for 15 years, initially at Shearman & Sterling, before joining Mayer Brown. They have a broad commercial litigation practice with an emphasis on securities litigation, antitrust, accountant liability and product liability.

Mueller, who represents clients in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, served as co-head of the New York litigation practice at Mayer Brown.

Charles Kerr, chair of MoFo's New York litigation practice, commented: "The group has a particularly impressive track record in securities, product liability and antitrust cases that will be invaluable to our national work in these areas, and they add a strong European and cross-border component that complements the firm's reach in Asia."

Orr said: "My partners and I chose MoFo… for its broad community of practice strengths, the national scope of its securities litigation work and its international platform."

The team's cases include advising current and former directors of American International Group in securities litigation on the vitamin antitrust litigation – one of the biggest price-fixing cases in the US – and representing Ernst & Young Canada and US on securities fraud litigation and negligence claims.

Reported on legalweek.com (11 September).