In addition, our clients benefit from our cross-disciplinary approach, which regularly involves lawyers from our tax, ERISA, employment and other teams to provide comprehensive, tailored service.
Our practice focuses on four primary areas:
Fund Formation
Fund formation is the cornerstone of our Investment Funds and Advisers Practice. We regularly represent managers in the formation of their investment vehicles across a variety of asset classes. Through engaging the skills of our lawyers across several practice areas, most notably Tax and ERISA, our clients count on us to address all fund and investment related considerations, from choosing the jurisdictions and entity-types that will comprise the fund, deciding upon appropriate economic structures, and navigating complex regulatory considerations regarding potential registrations and marketing rules.
We work closely with our fund formation clients, from the onset of the relationship through the date that investors make their capital contributions, and throughout the life of the fund itself. Our clients benefit from an organized process that starts with a discussion about structuring considerations and leads to a clearly delineated path to launch and closing. We involve our clients in the process and make sure they understand all documents that need to be drafted and all actions that need to be taken in order to have a successful fundraise.
In addition to traditional fund formation, our investment management clients seek our assistance in the establishment of other investment products, including managed account and sub-advisory relationships, which are single purpose vehicles designed to raise capital for opportunistic investments.
We have capability to form virtually all types of fund structures, including closed-ended drawdown vehicles for illiquid assets, open-ended hedge funds, as well as hybrid funds encompassing elements of both. Our team has worked on funds pursuing a wide variety of investment strategies including:
- Commodities and futures
- Consumer products
- Credit
- Digital assets
- Energy and climate related
- Event-driven
- Global macro
- Healthcare
- International equity
- Leveraged buy-out
- Long/short equity
- Opportunistic
- Pharmaceutical royalties
- Real estate
- Regulatory
- Venture growth equity
Regulatory Advice
Our regulatory practice focuses on helping investment advisers navigate complex registration obligations, as well as designing and maintaining compliance programs. We have significant experience in federal securities laws, including the Securities Act of 1933, the Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Commodity Exchange Act, as well as Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules and regulations, and those of various self-regulatory organizations.
In addition to navigating registrations and designing compliance programs, we represent clients with regard to various regulator examinations. With our regulatory knowledge and practical experience, we try to turn a stressful time for our clients into an opportunity to improve compliance programs.
Many of our lawyers have significant in-house experience, which enables us to design tailored compliance manuals and help clients implement their policies and procedures in a practical and meaningful way, such that regulators will identify a true culture of compliance during routine audits.
Our advisory practice is also equipped to handle regular day-to-day questions that often come up in an asset manager’s business, such as navigating conflicts of interest or providing investors with disclosures when the situation warrants.
Ongoing Representation for Investment Managers
Investment advisers’ businesses are complex and multi-faceted and involve substantially more than just launching new products. Our practice is full-service, and our lawyers can assist with all matters that may arise for our asset manager clients. Whether negotiating an office lease, reviewing service provider relationships, custody and trading relationships, or advising on cybersecurity or data privacy matters, we are there to service all of our investment manager clients’ needs.
Our executive compensation team, together with our fund formation lawyers, set up structures for fund management entities and develop and implement compensation arrangements for fund principals and employees. Our various practice groups work hand-in-hand as our clients launch new fund products, and seek to properly incentivize their teams and establish roles and relationships among all of their professionals. Finally, our private client service is there to help principals of investment advisory businesses accomplish their personal financial goals, be it to accomplish philanthropic objectives or to provide for future generations.
Assisting Investors in Connection with Their Investments
We assist investors of various sizes, from high-net-worth individuals to small or large family offices, to funds-of-funds, to the asset management arms of the largest financial institutions, in making their investments with alternative asset managers. In this area of the practice, we regularly assist our clients in conducting due diligence on the managers with whom they intend to invest, review offering documentation and other materials, and ultimately negotiate on behalf of our clients as they execute these investments. Our comprehensive practice provides us with excellent visibility into market trends in all investment strategies and sizes of funds, and with that breadth of knowledge we are able to negotiate favorable market terms for our investor clients.
