Investment Management
Morgan Lewis has one of the largest and most diverse investment management teams in the world, with more than 150 lawyers representing clients around the world with trillions of dollars in assets under management. From offices in financial centers across the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, we advise funds, managers, financial services firms, and institutional investors on the most important legal issues their businesses face. Our team counsels clients on the full spectrum of matters, including formation, investment, transactional, regulatory, and compliance.
We serve a wide range of industry participants engaged in every aspect of investment management. Our team has extensive experience in both registered funds and private funds, and a substantial number of our lawyers span both realms. We serve as fund counsel, adviser counsel, or independent director counsel to more than 100 registered fund families composed of thousands of funds. Our team advises a broad range of private funds, including hedge, private equity, and venture capital funds, and we represent both fund managers and leading institutional investors. We counsel financial market participants on the complementary areas of broker-dealer regulation and securities and derivatives trading, and we advise on market structure and other regulatory issues, including the regulation of securities exchanges, electronic communications networks, alternative trading systems, swap execution facilities, and derivatives contract markets.
Drawing on our extensive experience in and broad exposure to the industry and financial markets, we help clients think through the practical as well as legal implications of their business decisions while offering creative solutions. Broad perspective and continual engagement with key industry players and regulators keep our team on top of trends.
Our team includes more than 40 senior lawyers who previously worked with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service, US Treasury and Justice departments, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Clients benefit from our interdisciplinary approach that combines the knowledge of lawyers who focus on US securities laws, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code, the Commodity Exchange Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, US and state banking and insurance laws, US state securities laws, and global securities and financial services laws. We also collaborate with a seasoned team of securities enforcement lawyers and other white collar litigators should potentially adversarial issues arise.
Who We Serve
We take pride in knowing our clients’ businesses and helping them develop and market their strategies, regardless of the vehicle they choose to take to market—registered fund, exchange-traded fund, business development company, hedge fund, private equity fund, insurance-managed fund, or separately managed account. Our clients include:
- Many of the largest private equity funds in the world, including five of the six largest private equity funds of funds (by assets under management)
- More than 750 global hedge fund managers, private equity fund managers, broker-dealers, and other alternative asset managers and financial institutions, many of which have assets greater than $10 billion
- Half of the world's 50 largest hedge funds
- More than 70 of the world’s largest institutional investors in global private investment fund matters
- Many of the largest mutual funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds
- Many of the most significant money managers and virtually all major US broker-dealers
- Several top securities markets—both US and non-US—including national securities exchanges, clearing agencies, alternative trading systems, dark pools, and swap execution facilities
- Major US and non-US financial services industry associations
