A Former Regulator Returns to Private Practice

Before David Meister was butting heads with Wall Street’s top defense lawyers, he was one of them.

And now, after spending nearly three years as a federal regulator, Mr. Meister is returning to his defense lawyer past.

Mr. Meister, who left Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to run the enforcement unit of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is rejoining the law firm as a partner in New York.

His arrival next month will prompt a modest reshuffling at Skadden. Mr. Meister, who left the C.F.T.C. in October, will lead the white-collar group in Skadden’s New York office, taking over for David M. Zornow, who founded the group in 1989.

“His experience on the government side is going to be incredibly valuable to our clients,” said Mr. Zornow, who will remain global head of Skadden’s litigation practice.

Mr. Meister’s C.F.T.C. experience â€" he took aim at some of Wall Street’s biggest banks â€" all but guaranteed him a lucrative partnership. Wall Street’s top law firms, flush with business from banks increasingly caught in the government’s cross hairs, are clamoring for marquee lawyers with government résumés.

Mr. Meister, 51, is the latest to switch sides. Robert S. Khuzami, the former head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, landed at Kirkland & Ellis last year, raising questions about whether Washington’s revolving door blurs the line between defense and prosecution.

Underscoring the demand for lawyers with experience on both sides, Mr. Khuzami is receiving more than $5 million a year at Kirkand. While Mr. Meister received a somewhat smaller deal, he is still expected to earn a few million dollars annually.

Big Law was not always so welcoming. New York’s largest firms once turned up their noses at defense work, dismissing it as unprofitable and messy.

But the defense bar has developed a certain cachet in recent years â€" a phenomenon coinciding with its becoming more and more lucrative. As companies and banks grapple with heightened government scrutiny, they rely on large teams of lawyers to conduct lengthy internal investigations.

“There is a large â€" and growing â€" demand for regulatory advice,” Thomas J. Perrelli, a partner at Jenner & Block, said on Wednesday in a statement announcing the firm’s hire of Timothy Karpoff, another former C.F.T.C. official.

At Skadden, Mr. Meister will join a deep bench of onetime government lawyers.

Mr. Zornow, a former federal prosecutor, recently represented BlackRock in a favorable settlement with the New York attorney general. Keith D. Krakaur, another former federal prosecutor, represents foreign banks facing various investigations. Stephen C. Robinson, a former federal judge, and John K. Carroll, who prosecuted Michael Milken, also work in Skadden’s white-collar group in New York.

“Skadden has some of my closest friends and is involved in many of the most important white-collar matters in the world,” Mr. Meister said. “It made perfect sense for me to return.”

His return, however, could reignite concerns about hopping between Washington and Wall Street. Even though Mr. Meister cannot contact the C.F.T.C. about official business for one year â€" and is forever banned from defending cases he had a role in investigating â€" his relationships in Washington could give him a leg up with clients.

“You have to worry about conflicts of interest,” said Dennis Kelleher, a former Skadden partner who is now the head of Better Markets, an advocacy group. “But Meister went after the industry without fear or favor. Assuming he does not now capitalize on the influence he gained at the C.F.T.C., I don’t see a problem.”

At the C.F.T.C., Mr. Meister filed a record number of actions against big names in finance, including JPMorgan Chase and Jon S. Corzine, the former chief of MF Global. The agency’s investigation into the manipulation of interest rates ensnared UBS and Barclays.

Mr. Meister, who was also a federal prosecutor, said his return to Skadden stemmed in part from the firm’s “collegial culture.”

Mr. Zornow is known for erecting a Bob Dylan “shrine” in his conference room. In his own office, Mr. Meister plans to hang a poster from the movie “Trading Places,” starring Eddie Murphy, which humorously exposed the legality of insider trading in commodities.

In 2010, the C.F.T.C. gained authority to outlaw such trading, a measure known as the “Eddie Murphy rule.”