(Reuters) - Goodwin Procter is building out its private investment funds group with new partners on opposite coasts, the firm said this week, as it continues to grow the practice in the United States and internationally.

Zeeshan "Zee" Ahmedani, who was most recently a partner at Morrison & Foerster, and Karen Chao, who was counsel at Sidley Austin, will be based in the firm's Los Angeles and New York offices, respectively, joining a practice with more than 140 lawyers. Last month, Goodwin's Frankfurt office also added regulatory partner Joachim Kayser to the private investment funds practice from Dechert to advise on fund formation and regulatory matters.

Practice co-chair Paul Verbesey said in a statement that strengthening the group comes as the Boston-founded firm's global clients "continue to raise and invest significant amounts of capital."

Before joining MoFo in 2015, Ahmedani headed the London and EMEA funds practice as a partner at White & Case, according to his LinkedIn profile. He helps clients create and organize private investment funds in the hedge funds, real estate, venture capital and private equity sectors.

At Morrison & Foerster, he advised on the November launch of the California Rebuilding Fund, a loan fund dedicated to offsetting the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses in disadvantaged and under-banked areas of the state.

Ahmedani in 2018 advised logistics firm GLP on the creation of its $2 billion China fund. In 2016, he helped advise SoftBank Group Corp's $25 billion Vision Fund, a private investment fund aimed at pouring money into global technology companies.

"Zee is our first funds partner based in Southern California and allows us to further and better support our already robust Southern California investment manager client base," John Ferguson, co-chair of the private investment funds practice, said in a statement.

On the East Coast, Chao will advise clients on fund formation and operational matters. At Sidley, she represented private fund clients in connection with compliance and regulatory matters, according to her former firm bio.

Representatives for Morrison & Foerster and Sidley could not immediately be reached for comment.