© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(April 26) – K&L Gates announced recently that Jill Louis has joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner after working in various general counsel and in-house positions for the last 17 years.
Louis said the opportunity to reenter private practice at K&L Gates is a “homecoming of sorts.” She was an associate at Hughes & Luce for nearly seven years before leaving in 1999 to be the vice president and general counsel of HQ Global Workplaces.
“K&L Gates has a fabulous global platform,” she said. “Clients need expertise [on this platform].”
Most recently, Louis was the general counsel and secretary of FleetPride, one of the largest independent distributors of heavy duty truck and trailer parts in the U.S. She helped the Irving, TX-based company negotiate and close four strategic acquisitions in four markets over a 12-month period.
Prior to her tenure at FleetPride, she was a senior legal executive at FedEx, where she managed the company’s regulatory compliance, advised on acquisition and disposition strategy in China, Japan and Korea, and led complex outsourcing matters.
Louis says her experience in-house has helped her understand the real world better and what it takes to be an enabler of the business.
“I understand the pressures you face as a GC,” she said. “I know the difference between theoretical risks and practical risks.”
At K&L Gates, Louis will advise clients on corporate mergers and acquisitions, compliance and technology matters. But she says an important part of her practice will be counseling clients after the closing of a transaction to be sure the integration of the deal goes smoothly.
“The real work for a company starts at the closing and moving into the whole of the transaction,” she said.
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