Carl Krasik Returns to Reed Smith After Successful Career at BNY Mellon

Sept. 13 - Law firm Reed Smith LLP today announced Carl Krasik has re-joined the firm. He will be a partner in Reed Smith's Financial Industry Group (FIG).

Mr. Krasik was most recently the general counsel and a member of the Executive Committee at BNY Mellon. Prior to joining Mellon Financial Corporation as associate general counsel and corporate secretary in 1995, he headed Reed Smith's Corporate Group and served as Reed Smith's Director of Legal Personnel and on its Executive Committee.

Mr. Krasik joined Reed Smith in 1970, following his graduation from Harvard Law School and a one-year clerkship on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court with Justice Herbert Cohen. When Mr. Krasik left Reed Smith to join Mellon 25 years later, he was among the firm's most highly regarded corporate and securities lawyers, with a stellar reputation built on his involvement in numerous contested takeovers, proxy contests, and other high-visibility corporate matters in the 1970s and 1980s, including key roles in groundbreaking financial transactions for Mellon and in the sale of Gulf Oil.

After joining Mellon, Mr. Krasik served as the company's senior securities attorney and corporate secretary under three CEOs, becoming integral to the company's business and Board management. When Robert Kelly became Chairman, president and CEO of Mellon in 2006, Mr. Krasik was elevated to the position of general counsel, which he retained when Mellon merged with The Bank of New York. Mr. Kelly also appointed him to the Executive Committee of the merged entity, its highest management group.  In those key roles, Mr. Krasik served as legal advisor to Mr. Kelly and as a trusted member of the executive team.

Mr. Krasik's contributions at Mellon and BNY Mellon were numerous and significant, including: managing the broad range of complex legal issues involved in the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon, and in integrating these major institutions; dealing successfully with first-impression issues arising from the recent global financial crisis; and resolving a significant Russian lawsuit.

Mr. Krasik announced his plan to retire from BNY Mellon last October.

"At various stages in life, you look for the right fit between your interests and abilities and your career opportunities," Mr. Krasik said. "Returning to Reed Smith is the right fit for me at this stage because the practice of law is essentially about relationships. Reed Smith's historic and ongoing relationship with BNY Mellon will enable me to maintain the relationships I have with my former colleagues there, as well as allow me to reestablish relationships with many of the individuals I worked with during my previous tenure at Reed Smith. In addition, the firm's extensive relationships with other major financial institutions will permit me to build on those relationships that I have developed in my 15 years in the industry, and the firm's exponential growth in recent years will enable me to create new relationships with new lawyers and new clients around the world."

Reed Smith is a global law firm with nearly 1,600 lawyers in 22 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Founded in 1877, the firm represents international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises.  Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions.  Reed Smith advises several industries, including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, technology and media, shipping, energy trade and commodities, real estate, manufacturing, and education.