WilmerHale Partner William J. Perlstein will be joining BNY Mellon as Senior Deputy General Counsel, effective June 15, 2015. Perlstein will lead the Legal Department practice groups focused on government affairs, public policy and regulatory affairs, and the corporate services legal functions supporting M&A, IT, real estate, procurement and sourcing support, and cyber security.

Perlstein is a senior partner and former co-managing partner of WilmerHale, having spent nearly 40 years of his career there. He led the pre-merger law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering for six years prior to its transformative 2004 merger with Hale and Dorr, and following the merger served as the co-managing partner of the combined firm until 2012. After leaving firm management, Perlstein resumed an active practice as part of the firm's Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group and as a member of the Regulatory and Government Affairs Department and Strategic Response Group. Many of Perlstein's matters have concerned cases in which there is significant government involvement, drawing on his and the firm's experience in governmental and regulatory affairs. Perlstein received The American Lawyer 2014 Distinguished Law Firm Leader Award for his accomplishments in law firm management.