Morrison Foerster Welcomes Leading Private Funds Partner Elizabeth Sipes in Denver

(March 6, 2024) – Morrison Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce the arrival of Elizabeth Sipes as a partner in the firm’s Private Funds Group in the Transactions Department, based in the Denver office. Sipes brings to the firm more than 20 years of experience representing and advising private investment funds, investment advisers, and institutional investors. Her clients include established and emerging managers to venture capital, growth equity, buyout, private credit, and fund-of-funds and other sponsors of private investment funds, investment advisers, and institutions making investments in private investment funds.

Sipes joins Morrison Foerster from another leading international firm, where she spent the last six years and served most recently as a firmwide chair of the Private Investment Funds Group. Sipes’ practice encompasses advising sponsors on all aspects of fund formation and launch. Her work includes drafting and negotiating a spectrum of documentation ranging from term sheets, partnership agreements, side letters, and subscription agreements to structuring general partner and upper tier arrangements, including carry programs and other economic sharing programs. She also represents institutional investors, including corporate venture capital programs, funds-of-funds, and family offices, assisting them with their alternative investments across various asset classes, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, and real estate.

“Elizabeth is an exceptional addition to our Private Funds Group, our Denver office, and the firm,” said Stephanie Thomas, chair of Morrison Foerster’s global Private Funds Group. “Elizabeth’s practice builds on our well-integrated, full-service Private Funds Group, and her experience with established and new fund managers runs the full spectrum of fund formation and operations, which will provide our clients with strategic insights into fund formation across multiple asset classes, joint ventures, capital-raising, and subscription credit facilities, to name a few.”

Some of Sipes’ representative matters include advising a $300 million growth equity fund focused on investing in companies that improve human health through nutrition; a $600 million growth equity fund deploying capital in software-as-a-service companies; a $500 million venture capital fund focused on investing in emerging restaurants, beverages, and technologies; a $70 million social impact venture capital fund investing in Black, Latinx and women entrepreneurs in Chicago; and a $230 million buyout fund for a first-time manager deploying on lower middle-market industrial technology companies.

“I’m excited to join Morrison Foerster’s outstanding Private Funds team and continue to grow my private funds practice on the ground in Denver and across the firm’s offices, while leveraging MoFo’s exceptional global platform and top-notch transaction capabilities in addition to its deep bench of enforcement and regulatory attorneys who can expertly guide clients through the entire lifecycle of a fund from start to finish,” said Sipes.

In addition to her law firm experience, Sipes was Assistant Vice President and Senior Legal Counsel at Janus Capital Group, where she focused on private funds and regulatory issues under the Investment Advisers Act and worked with the firm’s institutional business to design and develop new products consistent with the firm’s strategic and regulatory initiatives. She is an active speaker and regularly moderates the Emerging Managers’ panel at the Women in Venture Capital Conference. Additionally, she serves on the board of Walking Mountains Science Center, a nonprofit providing Eagle County, Colorado students with educational resources and programming aligned with Colorado state and national curriculum standards.

Sipes earned her B.A. cum laude from Truman State University, and her J.D. magna cum laude from University of Illinois College of Law. She is admitted to practice in Colorado.