Jenkens & Gilchrist is to fork out $75m (£40.6m) to settle a class action lawsuit brought by some former clients over the firm’s role in advising on controversial US tax shelters.

The settlement, one of the largest offered by a major US law firm, stems from two class actions brought last August in New York against Jenkens by plaintiff firms Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris and Shore Deary.