Three K&L Gates Partners Named to Lawyers of Color’s Inaugural “Nation's Best” List

Pittsburgh - Lawyers of Color has named K&L Gates partners Pallavi Mehta Wahi (Seattle), Jill Louis (Dallas), and Sang-yul Lee (Chicago) to the organization’s inaugural “Nation’s Best” List, recognizing exceptional law firm partners and senior-level corporate counsel who have achieved prominence and distinction in their fields and demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing diversity in the legal profession.

Wahi is K&L Gates’ co-managing partner, United States; managing partner of the firm’s Seattle office; and chairwoman of the firm’s diversity committee. She concentrates her legal practice on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on corporate and intellectual property disputes. Wahi also serves as co-chair of the firm’s India practice, and is a dynamic leader in Washington state legal and local communities, including serving on the boards of organizations such as the King County Bar Foundation; the Washington Council on International Trade; Global Business Law Institute at the University of Washington School of Law; and the Woodland Park Zoo, as well as on the advisory board of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, for which she served as the first woman president. Wahi was also recently recognized among the Puget Sound region’s most influential women leaders during the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Women of Influence Awards.

Louis focuses her practice on various aspects of private equity and corporate representation, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and franchise transactions. She also advises on over-the-road transportation matters and the creation and implementation of contract management processes for public and private companies. Louis serves on the board of a number of organizations including Howard University, Thrivent Financial, Dallas’ AT&T Performing Arts Center, and Texas public broadcasting station KERA, and is a member of The Dallas Assembly. She and her husband Randy Bowman founded At Last!, a boarding experience for elementary school youth that seeks to increase the effectiveness of urban education for kids in under-resourced households.

Lee advises on labor and employment law and human resources issues, including non-compete matters, collective bargaining, strikes, arbitrations, layoffs and closures, wage and hour audits, and health and safety investigations, among others. He represents clients before federal and state courts and a number of government agencies including the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Lee is a member of the Overseas Board of Governors for the International Association for Korean Lawyers and also serves on the boards of the Japan America Society of Chicago and the Chicago Bar Foundation. He is a former Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms and past President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation. Lee also served for over a decade as a Chair of the Hearing Board for Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.  

Lawyers of Color is a nonprofit devoted to promoting diversity in the legal profession and advancing democracy and equality in marginalized communities.