Kirkland & Ellis has hired Robert Khuzami, the former director of enforcement at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a high-profile hire for the firm's government regulatory and internal investigations group.

The move, which will reportedly see Khuzami paid more than $5m (£3.3m) a year, represents a trophy hire for the Chicago-headquartered firm.

Khuzami will split his time between the US firm's Washington DC and New York offices. He will be joined in Washington by senior SEC official Kenneth Lench, who is also joining the firm as a partner.

At Kirkland, Khuzami will handle internal investigations, SEC enforcement matters and white-collar criminal cases, as well as crisis management and internal controls.

In his four years at the SEC, he was responsible for a significant restructuring of the enforcement division, as well as overseeing the highest rate of cases filed in its history. Prior to his role in government, Khuzami worked at Deutsche Bank as global head of litigation and regulatory investigations and between 2004 and 2009, as the bank's general counsel for the Americas.

"Rob is one of the most respected and experienced attorneys within global enforcement and brings invaluable public and private sector experience to our growing government, regulatory and investigations practice," said Jeffrey Hammes, chairman of Kirkland's global management executive committee.

Meanwhile, Lench joins after 23 years at the SEC, where he latterly headed the structured and new products unit created by Khuzami. Other roles Lench has held in the SEC's enforcement division include assistant director, assistant chief counsel, branch chief and senior counsel.

Kirkland made a similar move in the UK last year, bringing in former Serious Fraud Office head of bribery and corruption Satnam Tumani.

Separately, Kirkland's London office has seen the departure of restructuring partner Graham Lane to Wilkie Farr & Gallagher.

Lane becomes Wilkie's sixth partner in London, joining the firm's global business reorganisation and restructuring team on 1 September. He made partner at Kirkland in 2009, and represented a large number of key clients while at the firm, including MF Global, Travelodge, Eurotunnel, Calpine and Japan Airlines.