Law360 reported that noted trial attorney John Keker will represent Standard & Poor’s Financial Services in a federal government suit alleging that it knowingly inflated ratings on residential mortgage-backed securities, citing a spokeswoman for the firm.

Keker, who heads the firm Keker & Van Nest, will counsel the ratings firm with partner Elliot Peters, the report said.

According to the Keker & Van Nest website, Keker has built a reputation as one of the country’s top trial lawyers. The American Lawyer described him as “a giant of the IP trial bar.” The California Lawyer said he was “the lawyer other attorneys would turn to if they were in trouble.” The San Francisco Chronicle called him “the Number One Lawyer in the Bay Area,” and the California State Bar inducted him into its “Litigation Hall of Fame.” The National Law Journal named him as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Lawyers in the United States.”

The website notes that Keker recently represented American cyclist and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in connection with the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into professional cycling, which terminated on February 3, 2012 with the announcement that there would be no charges and the investigation was being closed.

The site says that for three decades Peters has litigated, tried and advised clients in some of the nation’s most high-profile, high-stakes complex commercial and white collar criminal cases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has also been named Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer and The Recorder, the Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer, and one of the Top 100 Attorneys in California by the Daily Journal.

Previously on monitordaily: S&P Investigation Tagged With Codename ‘Alchemy’ published February 6, 2013