Morgan Lewis today announced that it will soon welcome Kenneth Polite, a distinguished litigator and former US Attorney whose career has focused on government investigations and compliance, to its global disputes and investigations team. Mr. Polite will join Morgan Lewis on August 20 as a partner residing in the firm’s Philadelphia and New York offices.
President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Polite as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 2013, a position Mr. Polite held until March 2017. Since then, Mr. Polite has been vice president and chief compliance officer at Entergy, an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations.
“Kenneth is a tremendous addition to our firm, where he will assist clients throughout the United States in resolving their investigation and corporate compliance issues,” said Firm Chair Jami McKeon. “He has handled a wide variety of both civil and criminal cases, and our clients will be well served by Kenneth’s government and private industry experience.”
As the US Attorney for the federal district that includes New Orleans, Mr. Polite supervised approximately 55 assistant US attorneys and oversaw the investigation and prosecution of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the federal government.
At Morgan Lewis, he joins an elite group of former US Attorneys, including Zane Memeger, formerly the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Colm Connolly, formerly the US Attorney for the District of Delaware, and Ronald Tenpas, formerly the US Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. Morgan Lewis also is home to a large number of other former federal and state prosecutors.
A native of New Orleans, Mr. Polite started his legal career in New York City, where he worked as an associate at a global law firm focusing on white collar criminal defense, including tax and identity fraud cases in which he often represented corporations or businesses and their executives. He served as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York for three years before ultimately returning to New Orleans, where he led a local firm’s white collar practice.
“An outstanding lawyer, Kenneth possesses a strong background in both the public and private sectors,” said J. Gordon Cooney, head of Morgan Lewis’s litigation practice. “His work spans geographies and has included significant time on energy, healthcare, environmental, and other white collar and civil litigation matters. We are delighted he is joining our firm.”
Source: www.morganlewis.com
