Morgan Lewis Hedge Fund University ™
Resources
Welcome to Morgan Lewis Hedge Fund University™ — a library of hedge fund events, articles, and other resources produced by the attorneys in our Hedge Fund Practice. We encourage you to visit this site frequently for timely updates.
With more than 120 lawyers in our hedge fund team, Morgan Lewis has one of the largest international hedge fund practices, representing a wide range of hedge fund managers and institutional investors. Our success is due to the skills, experience, and strong client relationships maintained by our hedge fund lawyers and the insights we glean from working closely with hedge fund managers and investors. In particular, we draw upon our firm's deep bench of talent in the areas of fund formation, tax, regulatory, futures and derivatives, lending, corporate and securities law.
Our hedge fund lawyers are familiar with the legal issues facing hedge funds, their managers and investors and are located throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. We represent all types of domestic and off-shore hedge funds, across a broad range of investment and financing strategies, including customized and captive funds, crossover funds, hybrid hedge/private equity funds and funds of funds, as well as many of the largest and most active institutional investors.
Our lawyers serve more than 750 global hedge fund managers, broker dealers and other asset managers, many of which manage assets greater than $10 billion, including six of the world's ten largest hedge fund managers (based on assets under management) and more than 50 institutional investors, in connection with their fund structuring and formation, managed account and seeding programs, securities and regulatory advice, and investment programs.
We advise on all major issues managers face at every stage of their development including those relating to start-ups, spin-outs, mergers and acquisitions, employment, immigration and intellectual property and advise our clients in virtually every major global tax jurisdiction.
Recent Event Presentations
LawFlashes/Articles
A detailed explanation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight's (DSIO) no-action letters providing relief from Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) registration for family offices and fund of funds operators.
In 2012, the SEC and FINRA continued their vigorous enforcement of the securities laws, rules, and regulations—with cases against broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investment companies accounting for 38% of the SEC enforcement docket and FINRA bringing a record number of enforcement actions against its member firms and associated persons.
Adoption of the regulation accelerates implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive throughout the EU.
Claims for relief from CPO registration by qualifying family offices and fund of funds operators must be filed by December 31.
District court decision refutes 2007 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation opinion letter and could provide potential clarity to private equity firms and private equity funds in determining how to structure their investments.
Division of Investment Management's guidance on securities lending by open-end and closed-end investment companies provides a reminder of legal obligations in lending programs.
CFTC issues no-action letter establishing uniform compliance dates and temporary relief for reporting of swap transaction data for swap dealers.
Foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards are exempted from the definition of "swap" under the Commodity Exchange Act.
IRS announces certain new time lines for implementation and further interpretive guidance.
CFTC issues no-action letters providing temporary relief from registration, from the swap dealer associated persons statutory disqualification prohibition, and from including certain swaps in the de minimis exception threshold.
National Futures Association proposes amendments to its bylaws and registration rules.
Modified Field Assistance Bulletin eliminates rule calling for fund disclosures of investments available through brokerage windows and other similar arrangements.
Sixth Circuit finds that plan fiduciaries did not breach their duties when participants' investments were transferred to the plan's default fund without their explicit consent.
Proposed guidelines set out policies and practices to be used by alternative investment fund managers in designing compensation plans for certain senior staff.
Final rules relating to the commercial end-user exception to the clearing requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act clarify who can take advantage of the exception and the requirements for doing so.
The Swiss private offering rules may soon require foreign funds to appoint Swiss distributors in order to sell fund interests to Swiss investors.
Long-awaited amendments to the EU regime governing public offers of securities take effect on 1 July 2012.
In 2011, the Supreme Court and the federal circuit courts issued a number of important decisions concerning securities fraud class actions. These decisions address pleading standards, statutes of limitations defenses, class certification, and a number of other critical topics.
Investment advisers operating registered investment companies and private funds that conduct more than a de minimis amount of speculative trading in futures, commodity options, and other commodity interests will no longer be exempt from registering with the CFTC as CPOs.
CFTC requests comments on proposed rules intended to harmonize certain CFTC and SEC disclosure, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements in an effort to mitigate the burden on registered investment companies required to comply with the two separate compliance regimes.
Podcasts
Advanced Topics in Hedge Fund Practices, Part 2: Regulatory and Inspection Priorities for Private Fund Advisers (10/05/2012) Advanced Topics in Hedge Fund Practices, Part 4: Dodd-Frank Regulatory Changes As They Unfold (10/05/2012) Advanced Topics in Hedge Fund Practices, Part 5: Manager and Investor Perspectives on Important Non-US Issues (10/05/2012) Advanced Topics in Hedge Fund Practices, Part 6: Managing Custodial Risk: Business Conduct post Dodd Frank (10/05/2012)