Kate Perrelli

(617) 982-6090

kate.perrelli@beckreed.com

Kate Perrelli is a nationally recognized lawyer, mediator, and investigator who focuses her practice on internal investigations and sensitive workplace matters, including allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, executive misconduct, and employee mobility issues. She is frequently engaged by companies, boards, audit committees, and counsel to conduct independent, high-stakes investigations requiring credibility, discretion, and sound judgment.

With more than three decades of experience handling complex employment and commercial disputes, Kate brings a practical, litigation-informed perspective to investigative work. She understands not only how issues arise within organizations, but how they are tested in litigation, arbitration, and regulatory settings. This vantage point enables her to conduct thorough, even-handed investigations and to deliver clear, well-reasoned findings that withstand scrutiny.

Kate is known for her calm, methodical approach and her ability to navigate sensitive dynamics involving senior executives, key revenue producers, and cross-functional teams. She builds trust quickly with witnesses and stakeholders, conducts disciplined and strategic interviews, and synthesizes complex factual records into concise, defensible written work product and presentations for decision-makers. Clients value her ability to balance rigor with pragmatism, particularly where reputational concerns, ongoing business relationships, or parallel legal risks are in play.

Before focusing on investigations and neutral work, Kate was an equity partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Boston, where she served as National Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department and co-Chair of its Trade Secrets, Computer Fraud & Noncompete practice group. In that role, she handled bet-the-company disputes, emergency injunction proceedings, and matters requiring swift, strategic judgment.

Her prior litigation practice spanned trade secrets, noncompetition agreements, unfair competition, fiduciary duties, wrongful termination, and complex commercial disputes. She has deep experience with issues surrounding executive departures, team moves, and alleged employee-raiding—experience that informs her investigative work in matters involving employee mobility and competitive risk.

Kate also serves as a mediator in complex employment and commercial disputes, an experience that enhances her ability to assess credibility, test competing narratives, and identify practical, business-oriented paths forward when appropriate.

Representative Matters

• Conducted independent investigations for boards and audit committees of public and private companies, including cross-border investigations, across the financial services, life sciences, technology, and education sectors involving allegations of executive misconduct, discrimination, and retaliation.
• Led sensitive workplace investigations involving senior leaders and high-performing revenue producers, including matters with significant reputational risk and cross-functional impact.
• Investigated claims of trade secret misappropriation, employee raiding, and breaches of restrictive covenant agreements arising from executive and team departures, particularly in highly competitive and regulated industries.
• Advised on and investigated internal complaints involving harassment, hostile work environment, and whistleblower allegations, coordinating closely with in-house and outside counsel.
• Handled matters involving parallel litigation or regulatory exposure, developing factual records and findings designed to withstand scrutiny in adversarial proceedings.

Kate is consistently recognized by leading legal publications and is a frequent speaker and author on internal investigations, employee mobility, trade secrets, and dispute resolution.