The Boston-based firm will be working alongside the Beijing firm Jun He which was also taken on after the allegations were made earlier this month. Details of exactly what Ropes & Gray will do are sparse. But Fox Business News reports that Sir Andrew Whitty, chief executive of Glaxo, has said that he has commissioned the independent review 'to investigate what has happened'.

Sir Andrew has said that he was unaware of any wrong-doing among the Glaxo staff in China. When the scandal broke, the Chinese authorities detained four senior Glaxo staff including legal counsel Zhao Hongyan.

Ropes & Gray has offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong and it lists health care as one of its specialist sectors. It has 1,100 professionals in 11 offices in the USA, Asia and the UK.