Bryan Chegwidden > Ropes & Gray LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Ropes & Gray LLP’s diversified asset management practice is noted for its advising of sponsors of registered funds as well as private funds, with particular focus on the US Investment Advisers Act, the AIFMD and commodities and derivatives regulation and compliance. The leadership team is made of multiple key figures; Jason Brown and James Thomas work out of the Boston office; Melissa Bender is based in San Francisco; Brynn Rail, Mike Doherty, and Bryan Chegwidden are based in New York and; Joel Wattenbarger and Leigh Fraser divide their time between Boston and New York. The firm’s broker-dealer offering, considered a key area of work for the group, is co-led by Rail and management partner Eva Carman in New York.

Ropes & Gray LLP is seen as a destination firm for leading names across the funds space, acting for renowned registered open and closed-end funds, including interval funds, exchange-traded funds, and registered funds investing in hedge funds. The department covers the full suite of work in the area, from the operation of innovative fund types and managing regulatory issues, to transactional matters and related disputes, where, according to one client, ‘the litigation expertise of the firm informs ongoing advice more so than in other firms‘. The firm’s Boston office is one of the key locations for the team, the base for practice co-head James Thomas, as well as Thomas Hiller, who advises mutual and registered funds and their independent trustees on the full range of issues, and John Loder, one of the market’s most respected figures, whose extensive experience covers the organization of investment advisory firms and investment funds of all types. The other two co-leaders of the practice Bryan Chegwidden and Michael Doherty are based in New York, while in Chicago, Paulita Pike garners client praise as an ‘outstanding‘ lawyer, and advises on a broad range of issues, including governance structures, compliance, and press communications.