Linklaters has lost former US co-chief and litigation head Larry Byrne to Pepper Hamilton's white collar practice along with a five lawyer team.

Byrne joins the firm alongside counsel Ruth Harlow, who is also joining as a partner in the New York office. Four other lawyers are also joining the US firm, including Martin S Bloor and Linda Regis-Hallinan, both of whom will be of counsel in the white collar practice.

Byrne, who will also be managing director at Freeh Group Solutions, a risk management firm acquired by Pepper Hamilton last September, joined Linklaters from White & Case in 2006.

He headed up Linklaters' US litigation practice for four years from 2006 and became co-managing partner of the New York office for three years from 2007, as well as co-head of the global US practice from 2009 to 2011.

Byrne's practice covers white-collar crime, government regulatory and civil litigation, with particular focus on antitrust, securities and class action defence.

He also has experience in representing clients involved government and internal investigations, as well as related trial and appellate matters. Byrne is also a former federal prosecutor who previously served with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the criminal division of the US Department of Justice in Washington DC.

Pepper Hamilton executive committee chair Louis Freeh said: "I have known Larry for many years and worked closely with him when he served as a federal prosecutor. He and Ruth are outstanding additions to Pepper."

Key mandates Byrne has acted on include advising Deutsche Bank in all of its Enron-related litigations in the US, the Royal Bank of Scotland in lawsuits arising out of the Clear Channel Communications transaction and the joint administrators of Lehman European Group Administration Companies in US Chapter 11 proceedings.

Barlow specialises in federal and state securities law actions, bankruptcy court adversary proceedings, antitrust actions, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty cases, trade secret litigation and contract matters. She is experienced in class action litigation as well as matters involving financial transactions.

The news comes after Linklaters expanded its presence in the US, formally re-launching its Washington DC office last November.