Michael Caccese served as Chair of K&L Gates from March 2017 through June 2025, and Co-Chair from July 2025 through June 2026 concluding his leadership role after three successful terms. During his tenure as Chair and working closely with the firm’s Global Managing Partners the firm achieved significant growth and recognition in the areas of financial performance; client service, growth, development and satisfaction; innovation; talent attraction and retention; expansion into new markets; practice capabilities and excellence; and community service. Michael also served as Lead Practice Area Leader of K&L Gates’ globally recognized and leading Asset Management and Investment Funds practice group for over a decade. He is one of the investment management industry's most respected advisors on fund regulation, governance, compliance, and market practice. For more than four decades, he has advised registered funds, closed-end funds, private funds, fund-of-funds, investment advisers, broker-dealers, boards, and senior industry participants on the legal, regulatory, governance, and operational issues central to the asset management business.
Michael's practice covers fund formation and governance, broker-dealer regulation, investment adviser compliance, lift-outs of investment management teams, soft-dollar arrangements, advertising and marketing regulation, Global Investment Performance Standards, and investment performance reporting. Clients seek his judgment on matters where regulatory interpretation, fiduciary oversight, product design, distribution, compliance infrastructure, and commercial execution converge.
Michael's perspective reflects a career spent across the investment management industry. He began in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, held senior legal and compliance roles at major investment management institutions, and served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the CFA Institute. At the CFA Institute, he was responsible for the development of the AIMR Performance Presentation Standards, the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), and the CFA Institute Soft Dollar Standards. That experience gives clients advice informed by how regulators, boards, compliance officers, portfolio managers, distribution teams, and global standard setters assess risk and make decisions.
Chambers ranks Michael in Hedge & Mutual Funds in Massachusetts, Registered Funds nationwide, and Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance nationwide, with one client describing him as “a titan of the industry.” He is also recognized by The Legal 500 across mutual and registered funds, alternative and hedge funds, private equity funds, and financial services regulation, and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Mutual Funds Law since 2014. He is a two-time recipient of the BTI Client Service All-Star Award, based solely on direct client feedback from corporate counsel.
Michael worked as Senior Vice President and General Counsel to the CFA Institute (formerly AIMR) from 1993 to 2000 where he developed extensive global investment management and securities law experience while representing CFA charterholders and other investment professionals worldwide before US and international regulators and standard setters. He was responsible for developing and promulgating the AIMR Performance Presentation Standards, the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) and the CFA Institute Soft Dollar Standards.
From 1983 to 1993 he worked as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Russell Investments (formerly Frank Russell Company) where he was responsible for all legal and regulatory work and acting as corporate secretary for numerous SEC registered investment companies, bank collective funds, Canadian mutual funds and Russell's extensive pension consulting business. In addition, he served as a compliance officer for NYSE and NASD broker-dealers and performed regulatory compliance for SEC registered investment advisers and CFTC registered commodity-trading advisers. He also was responsible for advising on the first multi-managed mutual and bank collective funds and private fund-of-funds and for legal advice and compliance for one of the industry's largest soft dollar brokerage business.
He worked for Federated Investors, Inc. as Corporate Counsel from 1980 to 1983 where he handled the preparation and filing of disclosure and reporting documents with the SEC for reporting companies, investment companies, investment advisers and broker dealers.
He started his career in the investment industry in 1979 by working for the Securities Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.
- Recognized by Chambers USA
- Hedge & Mutual Funds in Massachusetts, 2014-2026
- Registered Funds, USA - Nationwide, 2021-2026
- Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance, USA - Nationwide, 2026
- Recognized by Chambers Global for Registered Funds, USA-Nationwide, 2024-2026
- Recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a Recommended Lawyer
- Mutual/Registered/Exchange-Traded Funds, 2014-2026
- Alternative/Hedge Funds, 2017-2026
- Private Equity Funds (Including Venture Capital), 2020-2025
- Financial Services Regulation, 2025
- Recognized by The Legal 500 EMEA as a Recommended Lawyer for Investment Funds in Ireland, 2025
- Recognized by The Legal 500 United Kingdom as a Recommended Lawyer for Financial Services: Non-Contentious/Regulatory in London, 2024-2025
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Mutual Funds Law in Pittsburgh, since 2014
- Recognized with the Acritas Star designation, 2021
- CFA Institute
Michael has been a frequent speaker at the fund industry's leading conferences for trade associations such as the Investment Company Institute, the National Society of Compliance Professionals, the Investment Adviser Association, Financial Research Associates, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the National Regulatory Service, the Marketing and Advertising Compliance Forum and many others. He speaks on investment adviser, investment company, broker dealer, investment performance, regulatory and compliance issues.
Michael writes frequently on current issues related to the global investment management industry and has authored major chapters in leading industry treatises.
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Regulation of Marketing, Advertising, and Investment Performance Presentation by Investment Advisers, (co-authored with Pamela Grossetti) Chapter 7A of Investment Adviser Regulation, A Step by Step Guide to Compliance and the Law, Third Edition, last updated May 2023
- "Key Components of the New Marketing Rule: Part 2," The Investment Lawyer, May 2021
- "Key Components of the New Marketing Rule: Part 1," The Investment Lawyer, April 2021
- “Navigating the New Marketing Rule: Updated Testimonial Rule and Differences From the Proposed Advertising Rule (Part One of Two),” Private Equity Law Report, 16 February 2021
- “GIPS 2020 Exposure Draft: What Every Firm Needs to Know,” The Investment Lawyer, Vol. 26, No. 3, March 2019
- Modern Compliance: Best Practices for Securities and Finance (three chapters on advertising under SEC, FINRA, CFTC and GIPS) Wolters Kluwer, 2015
- "This Summer, the Boss Is in the Office While Employees Hit the Beach," The Wall Street Journal, 18 August 2022
