Volkswagen has appointed Clifford Chance (CC) Germany banking counsel David Detweiler as its US legal chief.

Detweiler took on the regional general counsel role for the German carmaker at the start of this month.

He succeeds David Geanacopoulos, who, after eight years as legal chief, will move to a role heading up the car maker's lobbying effort in the US and be based in a new office in Washington.

The appointment comes after it emerged last year that the German car maker had been cheating emission tests by using software that made its cars appear less polluting than they are.

Last month, the Department of Justice in the United States filed a court action against Volkswagen, alleging that nearly 600,000 Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen cars had illegal defeat devices enabled.

Detweiler joined CC's Frankfurt office in 1994. While at the firm he advised Volkswagen on matters including the issuance in 2012 of $3.35bn (£2.3bn) of bonds to US investors.

A host of law firms have won mandates advising VW on the fallout from the emissions scandal. 

In the US, Kirkland & Ellis is acting for VW while Jones Day has been appointed to handle an internal investigation into the scandal.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer won the mandate to work on a raft of legal cases in the UK and Europe stemming from the scandal.

Legal Week understands that VW also brought in US firm White & Case to handle criminal cases in Germany stemming from the scandal.

In the UK, claimant firms Leigh Day and Slater and Gordon are planning lawsuits against VW.