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PHILADELPHIA — With Intelligence has named longtime Stradley Ronon investment management leader Bruce Leto as Independent Counsel of the Year as part of its 2026 Mutual Fund & ETF Awards. Bruce was recognized as an industry trailblazer for serving as trusted counsel to independent trustees of numerous funds, including his recent role in guiding Dimensional funds and their independent directors with securing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) share class exemptive relief.

Consistently acknowledged in the market and ranked as one of the top registered funds lawyers, Bruce has been instrumental to the modernization of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act), serving on the Investment Company Institute’s related steering committee. For Stradley Ronon, Bruce has served as a leader of the firm’s nationally recognized investment management practice during significant growth that has led to one of the most prominent practices in the United States, in addition to serving on the firm’s management committee.

Active in the community, he has been recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Faces of Philanthropy for founding and now serving as a steering committee member of the Philadelphia Fund Alliance (PFA), a group of asset management industry professionals that hosts annual fundraisers for charities in the Greater Philadelphia area.

The awards — presented during a ceremony on February 11 in New York — celebrate excellence in the traditional asset management sector, recognizing outstanding business leaders, innovators, product development specialists, fund directors and top-performing funds. The Independent Counsel of the Year award recognizes one lawyer delivering outstanding representation to independent directors.

About Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Counseling clients since 1926, Stradley Ronon has helped private and public companies — from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations — achieve their goals by providing pragmatic, value-driven legal counsel. With offices coast to coast, our lawyers seamlessly address the full spectrum of our clients’ needs, ranging from sophisticated corporate transactions to complex commercial litigation.