LONDON--Fenton Communications, the largest public interest PR firm in the US, has launched its first overseas operation in the UK. 

Fenton has lured Climate Group co-founder Alison Lucas to head the operation, and revealed plans to assemble a global network of "like-minded" social impact firms.

Earlier this year, the Holmes Report revealed Fenton's UK launch plans. 

Lucas previously ran an environmental communications consultancy and was Director of Communications for the World Wildlife Fund’s International Forests Campaign, where she helped create the Forest Stewardship Council certification program.

London is Fenton’s fifth office, after New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The firm was founded by progressive PR guru David Fenton in 1982 as a firm dedicated to advancing the public interest by only working on causes it believed in. The firm has worked on such issues as apartheid, global warming, food safety, nuclear power, sustainable fishing and liquor advertising.

Clients include liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, the American Lung Association, Malaria No More and Americans for Financial Reform.

Founder and CEO David Fenton will be travelling regularly to London as part of the European expansion, along with the firm’s chief change officer Lisa Witter.

“We have always worked internationally with clients and governments in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East,” said Fenton in a statement. “As the world faces critical global health, environmental and economic issues, we are out to show that a global firm can ‘do well by doing good,’ as we have done in the US for three decades. London is the natural place for our global expansion to commence.”