Barclays has instructed US law firm trio Sullivan & Cromwell, Boies Schiller & Flexner and WilmerHale to defend it from a New York lawsuit alleging the bank misled investors about its high frequency trading operations.

On 25 June the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman filed the suit against the lender, accusing it of a “systematic pattern of fraud and deceit” within its so-called ‘dark pool’ trading division.