Bryan Cave recruits ex-Illinois attorney general candidate in Chicago

(Reuters) - Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor who ran unsuccessfully for Illinois' attorney general seat in 2018, has joined large law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as a partner in its Chicago office, the firm said Monday.

Mariotti jumped to BCLP's litigation and investigations practice from Thompson Coburn, where he had been a partner starting in 2016. At Bryan Cave, he'll continue his focus on commodities and securities issues, the firm said.

He is a legal affairs columnist for Politico Magazine and a former CNN legal analyst. He has weighed in on the various legal issues facing former President Donald Trump and his associates.

Mariotti ran for Illinois attorney general in 2018 after longtime incumbent Lisa Madigan said she wouldn't seek re-election. He lost the Democratic primary to Kwame Raoul, the current attorney general.

Prior to joining Thompson Coburn, Mariotti worked in the Chicago U.S. attorney's office for nine years. He was the lead prosecutor when the U.S. took a trader to trial for violating an "anti-spoofing" law that was passed as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill.

Spoofing is when a trader floods the market with orders to buy or sell; as the price moves up, the trader sells at the higher price, then immediately cancels the bulk of the orders.

Mariotti said he will keep up his media appearances and his column, and that he joined BCLP in part because he said Bryan Cave saw "the work I have done to educate the public as a positive."

"Not every firm has that perspective," he said.

A spokesperson for Thompson Coburn said the firm wishes Mariotti well in the next stage of his career.

Read more:

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