K&L Gates: Irish funds play

‘A strong US funds capability combined with a global offering’

Some Dublin lawyers feign ignorance of K&L Gates: they should know better. Spanning five continents with nearly 50 offices, the firm has 1700 lawyers according to the National Law Journal. Last year’s $1.2bn in gross revenues put the firm among the top 50 in the latest Am Law global rankings – ahead of big brand names such as Ashurst and Shearman & Sterling, for example. Focusing initially on funds, K&L Gates opened its new Dublin office in January. Appointed as the office managing partner, Gayle Bowen was previously the inaugural head of Pinsent Masons in Dublin, where she also led the firm’s Irish asset management and investment funds (AMIF) practice. Bowen was joined by two other heavy hitters as founding partners: Shane Geraghty, formerly AMIF partner at Dillon Eustace, and Michele Lloyd, who was head of the European funds team at Maples in Hong Kong. “We hired three senior experienced funds partners,” says Bowen. “That wasn’t easy, but having made that big investment, it’s really made a difference.”