DLA Piper has added trial lawyer Jeffrey Tsai to boost its litigation, white-collar and investigations practices in California.

Tsai joined his new firm Monday as a partner in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Previously, Tsai led the state attorneys general team for Alston & Bird in California, where he helped the Atlanta-based Am Law 100 firm launch its Bay Area base last year.

“DLA Piper offers a unique opportunity for me to assist clients both internationally and domestically. Companies from here and abroad doing business in the U.S. are under increasing scrutiny by state attorney generals and their federal counterparts,” Tsai said. “State attorney general enforcement, in particular, will continue to be an active part of the regulatory landscape for companies, and I am looking forward to helping DLA Piper and our clients navigate these issues.”

Before making the jump to Alston & Bird in 2015, Tsai was a senior attorney in the California Attorney General's Office under then-Attorney General Kamala Harris. He has served as special assistant attorney general and was also a member of Harris' executive management team.

“As both a former federal prosecutor and former senior official in the office of the California attorney general, Jeff immediately will enhance our growing white-collar and investigations platform globally,” said a statement from Loren Brown, co-chair of DLA Piper's global and U.S. litigation practices.

Sang Kim, managing partner of the firm's Northern California offices, added: “As we continue to increase the breadth and depth of our white-collar and corporate investigations capabilities in California, as well as our overall litigation platform, Jeff's vast knowledge and experience will be an important strategic component of our offering.”

According to the firm, DLA Piper has about 350 lawyers in California. The global legal giant has been busy on the hiring front this year, including ramping up its operations in the Golden State with a handful of new additions in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.

In a statement responding to Tsai's departure, Alston & Bird spokesman Nicholas Clarke said his firm wishes Tsai well in his new role. At the same time, Alston & Bird also announced two new leaders of its state attorneys general team in partners Thomas Walker and Spencer Pryor.

“Walker previously served as a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina and as a special counsel to a former North Carolina attorney general, while Pryor is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and past counsel to a U.S. deputy attorney general,” Clarke said. “Both have significant experience handling state AG investigations and will jointly lead a team of more than 20 attorneys, many of them former state and federal prosecutors who have handled single- and multistate AG investigations across the country.”

Earlier this month, Alston & Bird also scooped up four DLA Piper lawyers, including partners Jeffrey Rosenfeld and Grant Alexander, who joined the firm's commercial litigation group in Los Angeles.