Slaughter and May has declined to confirm whether it will continue working with former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, after he was last week (29 November) charged with 14 counts of fraud in the US.

Lynch's indictment relates to HP's $11bn purchase of Autonomy in 2011 – a deal that saw Slaughters take the lead role for the software company co-founded by Lynch in 1996.

The charges allege that Lynch engaged in a scheme to defraud HP and other sellers of its securities by fraudulently inflating Autonomy's financial returns. The company replaced Lynch as CEO in 2012 and HP announced an $8.8bn write-down of Autonomy, claiming misinterpretations pre-merger.

Since advising Autonomy on the 2011 deal, Slaughters has forged further connections with Lynch, who sits on panel for the magic circle firm's Fast Forward programme, via which it offers free legal advice and business support to promising tech startups.

While Slaughters has declined to comment on whether it is still working with Lynch, he remains listed on the firm's website as a member of the panel that selects startups for the programme, alongside emerging tech and fintech team co-heads Ben Kingsley and Rob Sumroy.

Slaughters also has ties to Lynch via its involvement with artificial intelligence platform Luminance, which launched in 2016 with support from Lynch's investment company, Invoke Capital, and the magic circle firm, which tested and piloted its software ahead of launch.

The following year, Slaughters and Invoke took part in a $10m (£7.5m) funding round for Luminance, and Lynch retains a position on the AI platform's board, whose other law firm clients include Eversheds Sutherland, Cravath Swaine & Moore and McDermott Will & Emery.

The Slaughters brochure for the Fast Forward scheme describes Lynch as "a visionary figure in technology". In a 2016 interview with Legal Week, Slaughters senior partner Steve Cooke said the firm's decision to work with Luminance on AI was prompted by a discussion at a lunch meeting with Lynch.

Following the fraud charges, Lynch has stepped down from his role as a scientific adviser to the government. A Government Office for Science spokesperson said: "Dr Lynch has decided to resign his membership of the Council for Science and Technology with immediate effect. We appreciate the valuable contribution he has made in recent years."

Lynch's lawyers, Clifford Chance New York partner Chris Morvillo and Reid Weingarten of US firm Steptoe & Johnson, called his indictment a "travesty of justice" and the case "unsupportable".

"It targets a British citizen with rehashed allegations about a British company regarding events that occurred in Britain a decade ago. It has no place in a US court," they said. "The claims amount to a business dispute over the application of UK accounting standards, which is the subject of a civil case with HP in the courts of England, where it belongs."

They added: "There was no conspiracy at Autonomy and no fraud against HP for the Department of Justice to take up. HP has a long history of failed acquisitions. Autonomy was merely the latest successful company it destroyed. HP has sought to blame Autonomy for its own crippling errors, and has falsely accused Mike Lynch to cover its own tracks.

"Mike Lynch will not be a scapegoat for their failures. He has done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend the charges against him."

Autonomy's former vice-president of finance, Stephen Keith Chamberlain, was also indicted on the same charges, while former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was found guilty of inflating the company's returns in April 2018.

Lynch and Chamberlain each face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 plus restitution per charge.

A line-up of major law firms advised on the HP-Autonomy deal in 2011, with the Slaughters team led by Cooke and fellow corporate partner Gary Eaborn, who retired last year.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher served as lead counsel for HP in both the UK and US, alongside co-counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which fielded a team led by Ben Spiers and Ed Braham. Spiers left for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2016, while Braham became senior partner in 2016.

A spokesman for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the software portion of the since-split HP, said the company was "gratified that justice prevailed and that Hussain was held accountable for his criminal actions when he was convicted in April of this year".

The spokesman added: "HPE is now pleased to learn that Lynch and Chamberlain have also been criminally charged in this matter by a federal Grand Jury. HPE believes that the facts uncovered during the course of this matter will further demonstrate the harm that was caused by Lynch, Chamberlain, Hussain and others to HP and looks forward to seeing justice served once again."

Additional reporting by Caroline Spiezio.