Kai Haakon Liekefett joined Sidley Austin as a partner in the M&A group. He will lead Sidley’s shareholder activism practice out of New York.

Liekefett has more than 15 years of experience practicing in corporate law in New York, London, Germany, Hong Kong and Tokyo. He focuses on advising clients on director-election contests, withhold-the-vote campaigns, shareholder opposition to M&A transactions and other activism campaigns.

Before joining Sidley, Liekefett practiced at Vinson & Elkins, where he founded and led its shareholder activism practice.

“Shareholder activism is at record levels, both here in the U.S. and worldwide,” said Scott Freeman, co-leader of Sidley’s global M&A and Private Equity groups. “Kai’s extensive experience advising large and small-cap companies as well as investors on these matters will be a great resource to our clients.”