Christopher Baker, the former head of the Paris office of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, has been appointed to advise International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde as part of a negligence investigation launched by French authorities yesterday (27 August).

Baker is part of a team of lawyers representing Lagarde (pictured), who has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to clear her name.

The investigation relates to Lagarde's role in awarding €400m (£318m) in compensation to businessman Bernard Tapie in 2008, while she was finance minister in Nicolas Sarkozy's government.

Lagarde had referred Tapie to the three-member arbitration panel which awarded the compensation, after the businessman sued state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over its handling of the sale of sports company Adidas.

Baker, who retired from Skadden in June 2013, is currently independent of any firm, but continues to practice law and advises on select strategic transactions and crisis management matters.

A member of the Paris and New York bars, he founded Skadden's Paris office in 1989, advising clients on a range of tax and M&A matters, including joint ventures and restructuring transactions. In 2006, he acted for Arcelor in its defence against Mittal Steel's hostile takeover bid.

Lagarde was previously chair of Baker & McKenzie between 1999 and 2004, the culmination of a 20 year career at the firm.

Her reign was marked by a sustained drive to turn the firm into a top tier international practice, primarily through bolstering integration and quality control across the firm.

She left Bakers in 2005 to become France's foreign trade minister before being appointed as the country's finance minister in June 200 and, later, the first female head of the IMF in 2011.