FTSE 100 mining giant ENRC has abandoned its lawyers Debevoise & Plimpton in favour of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan on its row with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The change in instruction comes just months after The Lawyer revealed ENRC had dropped Debevoise on a parallel civil case, instead turning to Signature Litigation.
Quinn Emanuel will now advise ENRC on the criminal investigation into allegations of corruption at the company. It is not yet known which partner is leading the case.
A statement from ENRC said it had worked with Debevoise for a number of years, adding: “Lord Goldsmith and his team have provided consistently excellent advice and representation.”
The statement continued: “For a number of strategic reasons, ENRC and Debevoise have decided the time is right to conclude this working relationship. We will now be working with Quinn Emanuel to plot a course forward.”
Debevoise was first instructed to advise ENRC on the SFO probe in 2013. A parallel civil proceeding brought by the SFO in relation to the release of potentially privileged document emerged at the start of this year.
Signature partner Graham Huntley displaced Lord Goldsmith’s team as advisers to ENRC soon after.
The instruction is not the first time Huntley has acted for ENRC. Huntley has previously been instructed by the miner in relation to its dispute with US firm Dechert, which was originally instructed on the SFO investigation several years ago.
ENRC claims Dechert overcharged the business by £11m and “failed to comply with its professional obligations” when it was advising the miner on various allegations of fraud and corruption.
The dispute will take place in private following a ruling that said a public hearing could prejudice the ongoing SFO investigation into ENRC. Dechert lost an appeal to overturn the ruling last month.
Huntley is leading for ENRC on the Dechert row, instructing Blackstone Chambers’ Lord Pannick QC and Fountain Court’s Richard Lissack QC.
The SFO criminal investigation is ongoing and the civil claim has not yet progressed past the pleadings stage.
Debevoise was not immediately available for comment.