K&L Gates has unveiled the two partners who will succeed outgoing global chair and managing partner Peter Kalis, effective from 1 March next year.
Current vice chair for practice management Michael Caccese will take on the role of chairman of the firm’s management committee while James Segerdahl, currently vice chairman, becomes global managing partner and CEO of the firm.
Kalis said both men practised in two of K&L Gates’ strongest global practices, investment management and insurance coverage respectively, and understood the firm’s business, markets, practices and personnel.
“They have the firm’s compete confidence,” added Kalis.
Caccese and Segerdahl’s appointment followed a two-month process that began in early July. K&L Gates’ 75-partner global management committee unanimously recommended the duo during the period of partner consultation and then finalised the appointments through a unanimous vote.
Kalis is one of the global legal market’s longest serving managing partners, having served continuously as K&L Gates’ leader since 1997.
He told the firm’s management committee over the summer that he would not stand for a sixth term in 2017.
Kalis has led the firm’s growth from 400 lawyers in six offices in the US to 2,000 lawyers in 46 offices on five continents, with revenues mushrooming from $140m to in excess of $1bn. London is the firm’s biggest non-US base, with 53 partners in the UK.
Segerdahl, a commercial litigator whose client base includes corporate policy holders with insurance coverage disputes, is a K&L Gates lifer. He joined legacy Kirkpatrick & Lockhart in 1987 following his introduction to the firm the previous year as a summer associate.
Caccese joined the firm in 2001 in its Boston office. He had previously had a succession of in-house roles including latterly senior vice president and general counsel to the CFA Institute.
Segerdahl told The Lawyer he and Caccese were willing to “embrace change” if that was what the firm required.
“We’re committed to K&L Gates being one of the world’s leading global law firms,” he added.
Caccese added the firm would continue to invest in London but was waiting to see what impact Brexit would have on the UK.
When asked whether the pair would directly seek to address the issue of the high turnover of partners at K&L Gates in recent years, Caccese said the key would be to ensure the firm’s partners understood its strategic vision but also had the resources they needed to grow their client base.
“No law firm likes churn but it’s a fact of life,” added Caccese.
The changes at the head of K&L Gates come as a number of US firms overhaul their leadership.
Last week McDermott Will & Emery elected corporate and transactional head Ira Coleman as its next global chairman.
Coleman replaces outgoing co-chairs Jeffrey Stone and Peter Sacripanti, who held the top role jointly for eight years and announced that they were stepping down earlier this year.
Other recent management changes at US firms include London managing partner Paul Rawlinson elected as the firm’s next global chairman, Cravath Swaine & Moore’s election of M&A group co-head Faiza Saeed as its new presiding partner, the firm’s first female firmwide leader in its 200-year history, and Reed Smith’s overhaul of its management structure in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), which saw global chair of financial industry Tamara Box take on the role of Europe and Middle East managing partner and EMEA chief Roger Parker become Asia Pacific managing partner.
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