Christine Ayako Schleppegrell

Christine’s practice focuses on the interpretation and application of federal securities laws, primarily the Advisers Act, Investment Company Act, Exchange Act, and Securities Act. She serves as a resource for SEC-registered advisers, exempt reporting advisers, and unregistered advisers, ranging from global asset managers with diverse product offerings to startup advisers launching their first funds. Christine provides strategic advice on fund and adviser structuring and deal-related regulatory issues that arise in connection with corporate purchases and mergers and acquisitions. She also specializes in counseling on marketing rule compliance and performance advertising as well as extraterritorial matters, including participating affiliate arrangements.

At the SEC, Christine served as the acting branch chief and senior counsel in the Private Funds Branch of the Division of Investment Management, where she led a team of attorneys who acted as points of contact for private fund projects and priorities agencywide. She led engagement with the asset management industry following the private fund adviser proposal, and participated in significant rulemaking initiatives, including the marketing rule, private fund adviser rule, Form PF amendments, custody rule amendments, and the outsourcing rule.

Christine also served as a branch chief in the Chief Counsel’s Office of the Division of Investment Management, where she advised staff regarding ongoing investigations and examinations. In this role, she worked closely with the Asset Management Unit of the Division of Enforcement and the Private Funds Unit of the Division of Examinations.

Prior to her time at the SEC, Christine worked in investment management practices of other US-based law firms, focusing primarily on regulatory and compliance issues. She represented asset managers of diverse types of investment vehicles, including private funds, foreign funds, business development companies, registered investment companies, collateralized loan obligations, and separately managed accounts.

Christine is a frequent speaker on regulatory issues related to the asset management industry. She is an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law where she teaches courses on investment management, investment adviser regulation, and corporations. Christine also lectures in Fordham’s Advanced Corporate Compliance Institute on topics including governance structures for business entities and the role of fiduciaries. She has served as a guest lecturer at USC Gould School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center.