William J. Perlstein

William Perlstein is a Senior Managing Director and Vice Chair of Client Services for FTI Consulting. Mr. Perlstein brings more than 40 years’ experience as a law firm practitioner, practice leader, law firm managing partner, and senior executive at a globally significant bank.

Mr. Perlstein joined FTI Consulting after a highly successful career building a national insolvency practice at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and then serving as the firm’s Managing Partner. He led the nationally-acclaimed merger of WCP with Hale and Dorr, forming WilmerHale, where he served as co-managing partner for more than seven years.

Most recently, Mr. Perlstein served as Senior Deputy General Counsel at BNY Mellon, where he was responsible for the legal teams supporting regulatory and government affairs, cybersecurity, resolution planning, lending, privacy and M&A. He had frequent interaction with regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and in APAC.

Mr. Perlstein has testified before Committees of both Houses of Congress on bankruptcy and derivatives legislative issues. He also has presented to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding bank insolvencies. Mr. Perlstein has spoken on law firm management issues at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, in addition to speaking on various bank regulatory matters at symposiums in the United States and United Kingdom.

Currently, Mr. Perlstein is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York and a Life Member of the American Law Institute. He also serves as Trustee and General Counsel to the Board at Union College. Mr. Perlstein is a Fellow and former Counsel to the Board of the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as a past Board member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Neighborhood Legal Services Program.

Mr. Perlstein is a graduate from Union College and attended the London School of Economics. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School where he was Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal and served as law clerk for the Honorable Marvin E. Frankel on the Southern District of New York. In addition, Mr. Perlstein attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program on Leading Professional Service Firms.

Awards & Recognition

• Distinguished Law Firm Leadership, The American Lawyer (2014)