Kai Haakon Liekefett Joins Sidley as Leader of NY Shareholder Activism Group
Kai Haakon Liekefett has joined the Sidley Austin LLP’s New York office as a partner in its M&A group. Liekefett will lead Sidley’s shareholder activism practice in New York.
Liekefett was formerly with Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he founded and led its shareholder activism practice.
In a release, the firm said Liekefett has more than 15 years of experience practicing in corporate law in New York, London, Germany, Hong Kong and Tokyo. His practice focuses on shareholder activism, in particular on proxy contests. He has worked on director-election contests, withhold-the-vote campaigns, shareholder opposition to M&A transactions, and other activism campaigns. In the last two years alone, Liekefett has been involved in more than 20 proxy contests, the firm said.
“Shareholder activism is at record levels, both here in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Scott Freeman, co-leader of Sidley’s global M&A and Private Equity groups. “Kai’s extensive experience advising large and small-cap companies as well as investors on these matters will be a great resource to our clients.”
