Morrison & Foerster Promotes Howes to Co-Lead Investment Team

Morrison & Foerster has promoted Kelley Howes to partner and co-head of the investment management group after adding the other co-leader last month.

Howes had been working for San Francisco-headquartered Morrison & Foerster as of counsel for about a decade and, before that, in general counsel and other counsel roles for Janus Capital Management.

Howes will co-head the investment management group with Derek Steingarten, who joined Morrison & Foerster last month from K&L Gates, where he was a funds and assets lawyer. Prior to that, Steingarten worked as a financial institutions partner for Goodwin Procter, focusing on the same business area.

The promotion adds to the growth of the firm’s corporate group after the addition of nine partners since the start of the year and the election of nine corporate lawyers to partnerships in January and April, according to Morrison & Foerster.

“We’re continuing to see increasing demand from funds clients for experience at the intersection of managing money and the law,” said Eric Piesner, firm managing partner, in a statement.

Howes, among other areas, advises blockchain and crypto companies on complying with federal securities laws.

“Kelley’s focus on crypto, together with her invaluable commercial perspective gained in-house, position us well to serve the industry’s rapidly changing needs,” Piesner said.

The global blockchain market is an attractive business for law firms as it climbs in value and raises a number of data security and privacy issues.

Morrison & Foerster, which is No. 37 on American Lawyer’s 2022 law firm ranking, had gross revenues of $1.2 billion last year.