Leigh Fraser > Ropes & Gray LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Ropes & Gray LLP’s client base is broad, including mutual funds, banks, insurance companies, sovereign wealth fuds and corporations. Its team includes practitioners experienced in swaps, options, forwards, structured notes and market-access transactions. Leigh Fraser leads the firm out of Boston with great experience in advising buy-side clients on regulatory matters under the Dodd-Frank Act and in negotiation of ISDA master agreements. Chicago-based Jeremy Liabo supports major asset managers in the commodities space and is well-versed in CFTC and NFA regulations. Molly Moore is a noted counsel working for the team out of Washington DC, experienced in matters regarding cleared and uncleared derivatives.

The highly experienced alternative and hedge funds team at Ropes & Gray LLP regularly handles the full range of hedge fund matters, jointly led by San Francisco’s asset management specialist Melissa Bender, New York’s Morri Weinberg, Boston’s Leigh Fraser and Peter Laybourn. Bender’s expertise includes leading the firm’s crypto blockchain department, while Fraser specializes in representing hedge fund sponsors. The team services a roster of major clients including private credit sponsor CIFC asset management, MFN Partners, and Pacific Investment Management Company, on onshore and offshore private funds, structuring products, and the full range of regulatory matters. Head of the hedge fund team, New York-based Laurel FitzPatrick leads on advising on evergreen and open end credit funds, and assists with representing both registered and unregistered fund managers. Sarah Davidoff  is another key contact in the New York office, advising private fund sponsors and providing strategic counsel to national and international hedge funds.

Ropes & Gray LLP has a strong investor and sponsor side private funds practice that covers endowments, fund of funds and sovereign wealth funds across diverse asset classes, particularly buyout, venture capital, credit and real estate. Four practitioners oversee the team; In New York Morri Weinberg advises clients on primary, secondary and co-investment private funds, in San Francisco is Melissa Bender, who works with funds using novel hybrid structures, while in Boston jointly leading are Leigh Fraser and Peter Laybourn, with the latter advising on domestic and international fund formations, fundraising, and transactions. Marc Biamonte and John Ayer are further key points of contact, in New York and Boston respectively. The asset management group grew in 2023 with the additions of Warren Goodworth from Kirkland & Ellis LLP in May and Jonathan Rash from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in November, while in the same month Catherine Skulan was made partner.