Betselot A. Zeleke

Betselot additionally helps funds draft service provider agreements and other contracts and advises family offices on compliance with federal regulations. His background includes drafting exemptive applications pertaining to co-investment transactions, interfund lending agreements, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds with multiclass structures, and other exemptive orders under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Betselot has experience in structuring and forming private funds and drafting and negotiating offering and governance documents. He assists investment managers with drafting investment management agreements and various other contracts, compliance manuals, Forms ADV, Forms D, and other blue-sky filings.

In his prior role at the SEC, Betselot served as a member of the Chair’s Attorney Honors Program, in which he rotated through the various offices within the Division of Investment Management.

Betselot maintains an active pro bono practice, where his efforts include drafting an amicus brief in support of a veteran’s claim before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (successfully overturing a lower court’s decision) and submitting an appellate brief on behalf of a veteran appealing the denial of his benefits claim (successfully securing a remand to the lower court). Betselot has also assisted small businesses as part of the Small Business Startup Assistance Clinic and has worked with the Legal Counsel for the Elderly to help low-income seniors prepare tax documents.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Betselot was a partner at another international law firm. He speaks English and Amharic.