With Arrival of Partner Audrey Koh, Pillsbury Establishes Corporate Investigations & White Collar Defense Capabilities in London

“With a very substantial amount of Pillsbury’s work crossing international boundaries, our London office has always played an essential role in addressing clients’ multijurisdictional needs in the United Kingdom and across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said London office managing partner Matthew Oresman. “Audrey’s background and experience overseeing corporate investigations at the highest levels will be invaluable to those we represent, enhancing our London-based litigation offering and adding new dimensions to our white collar disputes practice worldwide.” 

Koh’s practice focuses on corporate investigations within the financial, energy, pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, including matters before the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. She works closely with corporates, senior executives and high net worth individuals on issues relating to anti-bribery statutes—such as the UK Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act —and also regularly advises on sanctions, money laundering, financial fraud, multinational regulatory investigations, ESG compliance, due diligence and related training.

Koh’s impressive background includes first-hand legal experience in the London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris and Geneva markets; successful stints at leading law firms, including Skadden, building and heading the white collar teams at Womble Bond Dickinson and, most recently, Avonhurst; a familiarity with in-house concerns having served as Head of Legal & Compliance, Chief Compliance Officer and Money Laundering Reporting Officer for an oil and gas-focused private equity firm; and a 16-month early career secondment to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office as an investigative lawyer in the Bribery & Corruption Division. Testament to Koh’s excellent calibre, she is the 2024 winner of Lexology’s Client Choice Award for UK Business Crime Defence. She is also fluent in Mandarin and proficient in Cantonese.

"Market uncertainty and geopolitical instability are often a harbinger of a coming uptick in government investigations,” said global head of Litigation Deborah Baum. “Audrey is a seasoned white collar litigator with experience that spans a broad range of industries and legal issues. Her arrival puts Pillsbury in an even better position to help international clients navigate investigative pressures and mitigate potential exposures, whether in the context of financial fraud, ESG scrutiny, cryptocurrencies, international sanctions or other emerging risk vectors.”

Koh joins Pillsbury’s growing London office, which is relocating to a larger, more modern space at 100 Bishopsgate that is reflective of Pillsbury and the sophisticated entities it represents. Recent enhancements to the firm’s differentiated London-based team include Gawain Hughes, a Chambers-ranked partner who has a market leading investment funds practice, from Morgan Lewis & Bockius; and EMEA-focused corporate lawyer Nadia Barazi and VC and private equity lawyer Nick Burgess, who were promoted to the partnership in 2023. Elina Teplinsky, who heads the firm’s global Energy Industry Group and is a leading member of the firm’s International Nuclear Projects and Hydrogen teams, is now co-resident in the London and Washington, D.C. offices as well.

The firm’s recruitment of high-profile practitioners with notable international experience extends beyond London too, particularly within Pillsbury’s global litigation group. Among the recent arrivals with noteworthy credentials in cross-border disputes are Richard Donoghue, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and former U.S. Acting Deputy Attorney General; the Honorable Rolando Acosta in New York, former Presiding Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department; former National Coordinator of the DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program Mark Krotoski; international commercial litigator Willie Wood in Houston; former federal prosecutor Kimberly Jaimez; Ronald Cheng, a former U.S. Attorney’s Office Division Chief and U.S. Department of Justice Resident Advisor in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing; and Adam Goldberg, who has extensive experience in Asia-related investigations, litigation and arbitrations.

Koh added, “Pillsbury has a storied history internationally, an established presence in the world’s leading legal markets, and an outstanding group of litigators who understand the complexities and nuances that accompany international disputes and investigations better than most. The firm is also well-positioned for growth, both in London and globally, and I very much look forward to playing a part in that expansion.”

With English and U.S. law capabilities, Pillsbury’s London office helps clients navigate high-stakes and cross-border transactions, disputes and regulatory matters in the United Kingdom, across Europe and throughout the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Pillsbury’s award-winning team of more than 200 litigators works with clients around the world to help them successfully resolve disputes, in trial and out of court, at home and in jurisdictions around the globe. The firm has garnered dozens of top-tier recognitions as a result of its exceptional litigation prowess and was most recently recognized as one of the most feared law firms to come up against in litigation by BTI Consulting Group.