Hedge Funds

Sidley has one of the premier Hedge Fund practices in the world. In each of the four years that Institutional Investor’s Alpha Magazine published its rankings of service providers (2006 – 2009), Sidley ranked as either the first or second place “onshore” (U.S.) law firm for hedge fund legal service providers. The Alpha Awards™ were based on a polling of more than 650 hedge fund firms, which collectively managed more than $1.1 trillion. Sidley was recognized as the “Best Onshore Law Firm – Client Service” at the Hedge Fund Manager (HFM) European Hedge Fund Services Awards 2012. Sidley was shortlisted and “highly commended” in the category of “Best Onshore Law Firm” at those awards in 2010. The firm was also named as the 2009 “Best Onshore Law Firm” in HFM’s inaugural U.S. Service Provider Awards. HFMWeek is a weekly publication produced for the international hedge fund community.

We have organized and provide ongoing representation to hundreds of hedge funds and their managers. Our hedge fund clients utilize a wide variety of investment strategies executed in the equities, fixed income and derivatives markets.

We provide a full range of legal services to our hedge fund clients, including advice on legal structure and other formation issues (including master-feeder, side-by-side and umbrella fund structures), securities and derivatives regulatory matters, business term alternatives, marketing arrangements, trading documentation, exchange listing, internet usage and tax and ERISA matters.

Defending Hedge Funds in Securities Enforcement Matters

Sidley has extensive experience defending hedge funds and their advisers in securities enforcement matters before the SEC and other regulators. At Sidley, our clients can rely on the talents of veteran securities enforcement litigators, including several former senior enforcement officials from the SEC.

SEC investigations involving hedge funds often require immediate attention to respond to sudden inquiries from SEC enforcement staff and fast-moving government investigations about particular trades and strategies. Sidley’s enforcement defense lawyers have considerable experience organizing rapid response teams to immediately learn the trading at issue, master the facts and all relevant documents, defend witnesses in government-requested interviews and develop a proactive strategy with the goal of convincing the regulator to take no further action. Sidley lawyers have defended hedge funds in numerous SEC and FINRA inquiries into suspected insider trading, market manipulation and short sales violations. Sidley enforcement defense lawyers have defended hedge funds in high profile matters such as the investigation by the New York Attorney General into the use of outside consultants and “consultant aggregators” by hedge funds.

Sidley’s enforcement defense lawyers also work with lawyers in Sidley’s Investment Funds practice to provide preventative counseling. We frequently counsel hedge fund advisers concerning issues that present particular enforcement risk such as insider trading, information barriers, use of outside consultants, alleged manipulative practices, short sales and supervision.

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