Lawrence Byrne

Lawrence Byrne, most recently the chief legal officer of the New York Police Department, has rejoined investigations firm Freeh Group International Solutions.

Byrne was deputy police commissioner for the past four years, managing about 100 lawyers in the NYPD's legal bureau. He oversaw legislative affairs, litigation, policy, and labor and employment issues. He was a liaison for the department in several investigations, including those tied to Eric Garner, who died at the hands of an NYPD officer who held him in a choke hold, and another investigation tied to deputy inspector Jimmy Grant, now on trial for bribery charges.

Byrne, 59, rejoined Freeh Group last month as managing director, advising corporations and banks on internal investigations and security assessments and counseling clients on compliance and cybersecurity. Freeh Group, founded by former FBI Director Louis Freeh in 2007, has about 30 full-time professionals.

He was previously a managing director at Freeh Group from 2013 to 2014 while the group was affiliated with Pepper Hamilton. He was also previously a partner at Linklaters, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan and a deputy chief of the organized crime and racketeering section of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department.

As deputy police commissioner, Byrne was paid about $220,000. Byrne has said he left the department for financial reasons. One of his sons is attending St. John's University School of Law, another is about to start law school and a third is applying to graduate school.

On leaving the NYPD, Byrne said he spoke with a few law firms to consider his options, but “I didn’t go too far with firms. That’s not what I was interested in doing at this point.”

He said working with his former colleagues, including Freeh himself, “was really my preference" and the Freeh Group “gives me the freedom to work with a broad range of clients to help solve problems.”