Proskauer makes secondaries partner promotions

Law firm Proskauer has promoted 10 professionals to partner, including two lawyers who work in secondaries, according to a statement.

Boston-based Joseph Kasegian focuses on fund formation and the structuring and execution of traditional and complex secondaries transactions, according to his corporate biography. He represents sponsors across buyout, venture capital, secondaries and funds of one, among other strategies.

Also based in Boston, Stephen Severo is a tax specialist who works on secondaries transactions among other areas of corporate practice.

“These lawyers are our leaders of tomorrow and they really embody our ‘special sauce’ and reflect the client-focused, inclusive and entrepreneurial culture that makes Proskauer such a unique firm,” said chair Steve Ellis.

In September, Proskauer hired Kirkland & Ellis’s Christopher Robinson as a New York-based partner specialising in the purchase and sale of fund interests, GP-led transactions, tender offers and spin-outs.

The firm advised on $20.89 billion of secondaries deals in 2019, making it the second-most active in the market after Kirkland, according to the Secondaries Investor Law Firm Survey 2020.

It was also among the most active in terms of deal number, advising on 134 deals across private equity, growth, venture capital, real assets and debt, including the sale of a $5 billion portfolio of fund interests by Japan’s Norinchukin Bank.