Bingham turns to regulator for New York enforcement hire

Susan Merrill will join the firm’s 75-strong broker-dealer group, where she will advise clients in the financial industries on regulatory and securities enforcement matters.

Bingham chairman Jay Zimmerman said Merrill’s arrival was evidence of the firm’s commitment to developing its securities team both in the US and globally.

It comes after the firm brought former O’Melveny & Myers partner Lizzie Baird into its Washington office in March.

In August 2009 Bingham merged with McKee Nelson, a 120-lawyer firm based in New York and Washington, boosting its capital markets, securitisation, litigation, and tax capabilities (6 July 2009).

Prior to joining FINRA, Merrill was enforcement chief at New York Stock Exchange Regulation, before it merged with the National Association of Securities Dealers in 2007 to form FINRA.

A former partner at Davis Polk & Wardell, Merill headed up the FINRA team responsible for investigating violations of federal securities laws.