Bingham McCutchen has sealed the hire of the former enforcement head at the regulatory arm of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), reports The Am Law Daily.

Susan Merrill, who spent a total of six years as head of enforcement for the NYSE's regulatory arm and the entity that succeeded it, will join Bingham's broker-dealer group in New York this week.

Merrill stepped down last month as chief of enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a private corporation that regulates brokerage firms and trading markets.

Merrill stayed at the NYSE for the next three years, joining FINRA in 2007 when it was created by the merger of NYSE's regulatory group and the National Association of Securities Dealers.

Merrill said that a number of factors led her to join Bingham, commenting: "It was really a combination of the strengths of their securities enforcement practice along with the drive and the vision that I saw they had to grow the practice and take it to the next level. Over the last 10 years and where they are today, I just found Bingham to be the most exciting place for me to come and practise."

Merrill's move to Bingham comes at a good time for the US firm, which saw revenues rise 12% to $860m (£559m) in 2009, while profits per partner increased by 2% to nearly $1.45m (£940,000). Last summer Bingham acquired McKee Nelson, creating a combined firm of more than 1,000 lawyers.

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on americanlawyer.com.