Stradley Ronon announced that Frank A. Bacelli has joined the firm as of counsel in the Washington office. Bacelli, an experienced corporate attorney with a focus on leveraged buyout and venture capital transactions, will head Stradley Ronon’s private equity practice.

Bacelli was previously with Goodwin Procter and Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) in Washington, where he represented private equity, growth equity and venture capital funds in middle-market investment transactions. He has extensive experience advising portfolio companies of private equity funds in mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters, and also regularly provides legal and strategic advice to startups and emerging businesses in connection with financing and early-stage company matters.

The hiring of Bacelli marks the seventh significant attorney acquisition for Stradley Ronon’s corporate practice in just the last 18 months. This year Stradley has welcomed Douglas Grimm, former chair of the healthcare fraud and abuse group at Pillsbury Winthrop, and Thomas Hanley, former co-chair of SNR Denton’s securities and public companies practice group, to its growing Washington office.

“As our corporate practice and our Washington office continue to grow, we remain committed to recruiting and retaining top tier practitioners who want to work for sophisticated clients without being stifled by the large-firm environment and high billing rates,” said Stradley Ronon chairman William R. Sasso. “We’re confident that our collegial culture and low-cost structure will continue to attract other experienced attorneys like Frank.”

Bacelli brings to Stradley Ronon broad experience in the technology, business services, consumer products, education, telecom and hospitality industries. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Buffalo.