Judge Louis Freeh’s law firm and investigative practice will soon merge with Pepper Hamilton LLP, a corporate law firm based in Philadelphia, effective Sept. 1.
The acquisition of Freeh Group International Solutions, LLC and the partnering Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP was announced Tuesday, and is intended to broaden Pepper Hamilton’s corporate investigations and white-collar advocacy, according to a press release issued by Pepper Hamilton.
Nina Gussack, chair of Pepper Hamilton, said the two firms have a successful history working together, according to the release.
“We know our partners share a commitment to excellence and have experienced the benefit of working together as colleagues to enhance the value for our clients,” Gussack said in the release.
Freeh and his investigators were hired by the Penn State Board of Trustees in November to conduct an independent inquiry into whether certain university officials knew of sex abuse reports involving former football defensive coach Jerry Sandusky and chose not to report it to police.
Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of sexually abusing boys he met through his charity, The Second Mile.
Freeh released the report of his investigation in July. The report implicated former head football coach Joe Paterno, former university President Graham Spanier, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz for knowing of the abuse and choosing not to report it to police.
Curley and Schultz await trial on Jan. 7 for charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse.
The Freeh Group and Pepper Hamilton could not be reached by press time Tuesday.
Freeh said that the move to merge would enhance the values he promised to his clients, according to the release.
“This transaction will allow us to do a lot more than conduct investigations and uncover problems,” Freeh said, according to the release. “We will now have the depth to react quickly to sophisticated, complex issues anywhere in the world.”
