Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has added Kasey L. Lekander as a partner in its asset management and investment funds practice. She joins the firm from Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP.
Resident in K&L Gates’ Boston office, Lekander focuses her practice on private funds and fund formation, advising asset managers on firm establishment, fund formations and reorganizations, and regulatory matters. She also has extensive experience counseling clients on the sales and acquisitions of investment advisers and fund families, including hedge funds and private equity funds. Before returning to private practice, Lekander served in the roles of managing director and managing counsel at State Street Global Advisors, where she led the team supporting the company’s private funds and bank collective trusts, as well as advised on strategic, regulatory, and governance matters. Prior to that, Lekander held the position of counsel in the investment management group at WilmerHale.
Michael Caccese, K&L Gates Chairman and co‐leader of the firm’s asset management and investment funds practice area, stated: “We are excited that Kasey has joined the ranks of the leading lawyers in K&L Gates’ global asset management and investment funds practice as an important addition to one of the largest asset management legal teams in the U.S. and globally. With Kasey’s addition, we are pleased to expand the services we deliver to clients in this industry throughout the world.”
“We are excited to welcome Kasey to our leading asset management and investment funds practice in Boston,” said Mark Haddad, managing partner of K&L Gates’ Boston office. “Kasey’s overall regulatory experience, combined with her particular skills in private funds and fund formation, will allow us to better serve our global clients who are increasingly seeking our advice in these important areas.”
Lekander’s arrival follows the additions of partner Yasho Lahiri and of counsel David Owen to the asset management and investment funds practice earlier this year. K&L Gates has welcomed nearly 20 new partners and of counsel during the first several months of 2020, including in the firm’s corporate, tax, health care, environment, land and natural resources, asset management and investment funds, IP litigation, restructuring and insolvency, government contracts, and investigations, enforcement and white collar practices.
K&L Gates’ asset management and investment funds practice is one of the largest and most experienced practices in the United States and globally and has more than 150 lawyers in offices in the United States, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East, devoted to assisting the investment management, funds, and professional investor communities. The practice is ranked in U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ annual “Best Law Firms” report as a top-tier practice for “Mutual Funds Law” and “Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law,” with K&L Gates also recognized as the corporate “Law Firm of the Year” for 2020.