[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Bruno Iksil, or the London Whale, has hired a lawyer at an international law firm in Paris, two sources familiar with the U.S. investigation said on Thursday.  Jean-François Davene of the Wenner law firm will represent the former London-based trader and French citizen, who is under scrutiny for trades he made that resulted in the bank's $5.8 billion loss. What's at stake in the U.S. federal investigation is whether Mr. Iksil, who was fired in July, and his superiors deliberately mismarked the value of some of the trading positions to try to cover up the losses.  Mr. Davene joined Wenner, which has offices in Paris, Berlin and Milan, in 1996, and counts among his specialties commercial law, competition law, distribution law, intellectual property, and civil law, according to the firm's website. In his favor are the facts that Mr. Iksil's French citizenship may confound potential efforts to bring him – and witnesses whose cooperation may be crucial – to New York to testify in the event of a trial. For further details, go to [Reuters, 8/23/12].