Carta Law has hired Noah Levine as legal director and Karin Porstendörfer as compliance director, strengthening its North American and European compliance teams. The AI-native firm, launched in May to serve private capital clients, also promoted two lawyers to managing director roles in its contracts practice.
Levine will lead the North America compliance practice. He joins from Madison International Realty, where he was deputy general counsel and compliance officer. His background includes managing director and senior compliance counsel roles at Angelo Gordon, plus compliance positions at Two Sigma and Dune Real Estate Partners.
Porstendörfer joins the Luxembourg office as compliance director and head of inbound KYC. She will support asset management clients handling incoming KYC and AML requests from counterparties. She spent the past six years at Carne Group as head of AML/CFT and began her career at PwC as assistant manager of governance, risk and compliance. Both report to managing director for compliance Patrick Daniel Squatriti.
Contracts practice promotions
Chrystel Marincich moved up to managing director after two-and-a-half years with the firm. Before Carta Law, she was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and practiced as a transactional attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett across Tokyo, New York and London. Kenneth Howe also earned promotion to managing director of contracts for Europe and APAC. He previously worked at Simmons & Simmons and Gowling WLG.
James Sutton, general manager of Carta Law, said the four appointments strengthen the combination of deep legal expertise and technology the firm was built around.
"Noah and Karin bring first-hand experience of the compliance challenges facing sophisticated asset managers, while Chrystel and Kenny have played a major role in building our contracts practice," Sutton said. "Having strong leaders on the ground in both the US and Europe will be critical as we continue to expand the way we deliver AI-enabled legal and compliance services to private capital."
Firm background
Carta Law launched in May after parent company Carta acquired UK alternative legal services provider Avantia. The firm gives private capital firms a single platform to manage legal and compliance work, reducing reliance on traditional law firms for routine tasks. For legal professionals interested in how AI is reshaping their field, resources like AI for Legal cover the tools and trends driving this shift.
The moves come as law firms increasingly blend technology with traditional practice. Last month, top 20 UK firm Bird & Bird hired four lawyers from EY, including technology partner Shahin Baghaei, to lead its legal transformation team.
Why this matters for legal professionals
Carta Law's hiring pattern signals where the legal market is heading. The firm is staffing up not just with traditional lawyers but with compliance officers who understand KYC, AML, and the operational side of fund management. For private capital lawyers and compliance specialists, the message is clear: firms now want practitioners who can work inside technology platforms rather than just bill hours. The promotions of Marincich and Howe - both with Big Law backgrounds - suggest experienced transactional lawyers can find leadership tracks at AI-enabled firms. Paralegals and legal operations professionals looking to build relevant skills can explore the AI Learning Path for Paralegals to understand how AI tools are changing legal support roles.
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