Cathy Gonzales O'Kelly > Vedder Price > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
Vedder Price Offices
222 NORTH LASALLE STREET, SUITE 2600
CHICAGO, IL 60601-1003
ILLINOIS
United States
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Cathy Gonzales O'Kelly
Work Department
Investment Services
Position
Shareholder
Career
As the Co-Chair of the firm’s Investment Services group, her practice includes representation of mutual funds and their boards of directors, money managers, broker-dealers, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions in connection with investment company, investment adviser, broker-dealer and insurance product matters, including securities, regulatory, product design and transaction counseling.
Ms. O’Kelly counsels boards of directors of investment companies, and in particular independent directors, on their special responsibilities.
Ms. O’Kelly began her legal career with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, where she worked on the Investment Company Act Special Study and served as Special Counsel in the Division of Investment Management until 1983.
Ms. O’Kelly is co-author of an article published in the DePaul Business Journal entitled “Soft Dollars and Other Traps for the Investment Adviser: An Analysis of Brokerage Placement Practices.” She has served as Chair of the Investment Company Subcommittee of the Chicago Bar Association. Ms. O’Kelly has also served as a trustee of the College of William and Mary Foundation.
Memberships
- Past Chair, Investment Company Subcommittee, Chicago Bar Association
- Member, The Chicago Network
Education
- University of Virginia, J.D., 1978
- College of William and Mary, A.B., 1975
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
Vedder Price‘s broad advisory service covers compliance and regulatory matters, fund transactions as well as day-to-day operational advice for investment companies and diverse fund complexes, among which are registered investment companies, mutual funds, closed-end funds and exchange traded funds, with a particular strength of the department being their independent directors practice, which comprises the bulk of their client roster. A trio of partners lead the practice: Washington DC based Marguerite Bateman advises clients on various regulatory matters pertaining to the Investment Company Act of 1940, Investment Advisors Act of 1940 and on securities law, as well as John Marten and Joseph Mannon ,based in Chicago, the former advising on innovative ETFs, fund mergers and SEC examinations and the latter on ETFs and diverse registered fund product offerings. Previous practice heads Bruce A. Rosenblum and Cathy Gonzales O’Kelly further strengthen the teams in Washington DC and Chicago respectively. Among the recent team changes were the arrival of Todd Lurie to the New York office in June 2023 from MetLife as well as the departures of Thomas Conner and Robert Crea in March 2023.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- Transport > Rail and road: finance
Firm Rankings
- Transport > Shipping: finance
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense