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MoFo’s GP + LP Global Summit 2023

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Morrison Foerster is hosting our 6th Annual GP + LP Global Summit, a half-day event focused on current trends impacting the global investment community.

 MoFo’s GP + LP Global Summit 2023

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Morrison Foerster is hosting our 6th Annual GP + LP Global Summit, a half-day event focused on current trends impacting the global investment community.Panels will include:<ul><li>Taking Advantage of a Down Market: Greater Opportunities & Better Terms</li><li>Future-Proofing Your Fund: Managing Conflicts of Interest and Investment Allocations</li><li>Getting Your Upper-Tier in Order: Structuring the Firm</li><li>Fund Legal Concerns: What Keeps Your Lawyers Up at Night</li></ul>Please reach out to <a href="mailto:azuraw@mofo.com" target="_self">Aleks Zuraw</a> for more information on the event.<hr>

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Stephanie, Chair of the firm’s global Private Funds Group, has over 20 years of experience advising on private fund formation and operations, as well as on regulatory compliance matters. She represents U.S. domestic and global fund sponsors and institutional investors in connection with the formation of, and investments in, buyout funds, venture capital funds, secondary funds, debt funds, infrastructure funds, fund–of–funds, social impact funds and other private funds with a broad range of investment strategies. She has been described by a client as “extremely knowledgeable in the fund formation space, very good to work with and thoughtful about the needs of her clients.”Private Fund Sponsors. Stephanie represents fund sponsors and the management teams of private funds in the formation of their private funds, as well as in ongoing fund operations, including upper–tier planning, parallel and feeder fund structures, alternative and offshore vehicles, securities law matters, ERISA compliance, transfers or sales of partnership interests, including secondary transactions, and other tax and regulatory matters.She has considerable experience negotiating anchor investor arrangements, navigating cross–border fund matters, structuring co–investment and overage programs, representing firms and individual partners at the time of hire or departure (including involuntary removal), and the formation of feeder vehicles, parallel funds and special purpose vehicles. She also advises U.S. and international companies in the structuring of their corporate venture capital programs.Institutional Investors. Stephanie has advised institutional investors in hundreds of private fund formations, involving foreign and domestic funds ranging in size from $40 million to $21 billion. These investors, including state and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, universities, fund-of-funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors, have commitments ranging from $5 million - $1 billion on a per-deal basis. Her experience includes representing significant limited partner investors in some of the largest private market funds ever raised.Investment Advisers. Stephanie advises fund sponsors and other investment advisers on the principal aspects of the Investment Advisers Act and the Dodd–Frank Act. She assists her clients in navigating the regulatory landscape, including new state and federal registration requirements, exemption eligibility, compliance programs and ongoing compliance matters.Stephanie works in the firm’s Palo Alto office and is active in the business community. Prior to joining the firm in 2005, she was a member of the fund formation group in the Palo Alto office of Cooley LLP.

Stephanie Thomas

Chair of Global Private Funds Group

Chip advises institutional investors and fund sponsors in connection with the formation of venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds, real estate opportunity and other private equity funds. He also represents both public and private companies in a broad range of industries, including the biotechnology, finance, medical device and information technology sectors. He structures, negotiates and advises clients on acquisition transactions and related matters, including stock acquisitions, asset acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, auction transactions, tender offers, defensive strategies, leveraged buyouts and cross-border transactions.In addition to representing businesses and business leaders, Chip has served in numerous leadership positions of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, representing its 50,000 members on cutting-edge business issues. He served as Chair of the Section in 2014-2015 and held other officer positions, including Vice-Chair, when he served as editor-in-chief of Volume 68 of The Business Lawyer, the highly regarded journal of the Section, and Secretary of the Section (2011-2012), where he served as co-editor-in-chief of the Section's online monthly magazine. He is the Past Chair of the Venture Capital & Private Equity Committee of the Section. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious Life Time Achievement Award by the Business Law Section of the California Lawyers Association.<h5>Chip’s clients include:</h5>Venture and Private Equity Funds:<ul><li>Longitude Capital (life sciences venture capital firm)</li><li>Base10</li><li>Anthem Ventures (technology venture capital firm)</li><li>MAP Royalty, Inc. (fund focused on royalty interests associated with gas fields and renewable energy products) </li><li>The Capital Partnership Group (private investment office and asset manager)</li><li>NorthgateCapital</li><li>GSSG Solar (solar developer)</li><li>Others, including Inspiration Ventures, NEA, Frazier, 5 AM, Fifth Wall Ventures</li></ul>Company Side Representation (including Corporate Venture Capital, IPOs and M&A transactions):<ul><li>MarketShare Partners LLC (marketing analytics), sold to Neustar, Inc.</li><li>Mediconnect Global, Inc. (medical record retrieval), sold to Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ VRSK) </li><li>Microfabrica, Inc. (micromachining, additive manufacturer), sold to Technoprobe</li></ul>Chip is nationally recognized for his work with Limited Liability Companies (LLCs). He writes and edits articles, outlines, and books on LLCs and partnerships and participates on panels focused on LLCs, including for the American Law Institute — American Bar Association LLC satellite telecast on LLCs for over 20 years. As former Chair of the Partnerships Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar, he formed and participated in the Committee that drafted California's original LLC Act that became law on September 30, 1994. He has served as an advisor to the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, the Revised Uniform Limited Company Act, and the Revised Uniform Partnership Act Drafting Committees of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. From 1984-1990, he was an adjunct lecturer at law for the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Paul 'Chip' Lion

Partner

Lee Shepard is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Morrison Foerster, where he focuses on fund formation and transactions, as well as corporate and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private financings, public offerings and general corporate matters.Mr. Shepard represents venture capital and private equity sponsors and institutional investors in connection with the formation of, investments in, and investments by private funds and alternative investment vehicles, including funds focused on life sciences, pharmaceutical development, and alternative energy power generation. He advises institutional investors on co-investments in private equity-sponsored acquisitions and leveraged recapitalization transactions. Mr. Shepard also advises clients general corporate and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private financings, public offerings and general corporate matters.Mr. Shepard received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Managerial Economics in 1985 and in 1988 received his M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2006, he received his J.D., cum laude, Order of the Coif, from U.C. Hastings College of the Law, where he was a senior production editor of the Hastings Law Journal, articles editor and senior articles review chair of the Hastings Business Law Journal, and a member of the Thurston Society. He served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Dennis Montali, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California. Prior to receiving his J.D., Mr. Shepard was a senior officer of a major investment bank.

Lee Shepard

Hila Cohen is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s New York office. Her practice focuses on advising fund sponsors on their organization and raising of private funds, across various investment styles and objectives, with a particular focus on venture capital funds. Hila specializes in collaborating with emerging managers on all aspects relating to the launch of their investment advisory firms and flagship funds, providing practical guidance that leverages her strong technical expertise, market knowledge, and experience navigating investor relationships during negotiations of investment terms and subsequent communications.As part of her practice, Hila also advises clients on regulatory compliance and operational matters. She has considerable experience with managing conflicts of interests, disclosure matters, and other compliance issues, and providing guidance on management arrangements, profit-sharing programs, and succession planning.Hila also regularly represents institutional investors in connection with their investments in private funds across a variety of structures and arrangements, including anchor investor arrangements and co-investments.

Hila Cohen

Kelley Howes is chair of the Investment Management Group, co-head of the Securities + Derivatives Regulatory Solutions team, and managing partner of the firm’s Denver office.Kelley has over 30 years’ experience advising U.S. registered investment companies (including mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and interval funds), business development companies, registered investment advisers, and exempt reporting advisers on a wide range of legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. She also counsels clients regarding investment company status matters under the Investment Company Act.Recognized as a go-to counsel for independent fund trustees, Kelley frequently advises registered funds and their trustees on corporate governance, compliance, and regulatory matters, mergers and reorganizations, and regulatory examination and enforcement matters.Kelley is consistently recognized as a top advisor in Chambers USA and Chambers Global, receiving multiple distinctions for Registered Funds. She has also been recognized in the Finance: Fintech category of The Legal 500 US awards.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, she served as executive vice president and general counsel of Janus Capital Group Inc., a NYSE-listed global asset management holding company. She also previously served as senior vice president and general counsel of Janus Capital Management LLC, a U.S. registered investment advisory subsidiary of Janus Capital Group, and as president of the Janus funds and president of Janus Distributors LLC.Kelley previously served as a director of Young Americans Bank/Young Americans Center for Financial Education, ICI Mutual Insurance Company, and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Kelley Howes

Chair of Investment Management Group

Michael Schulman is a partner in the firm’s Global Employment and Labor Group and co-head of the firm’s Washington, D.C. Litigation Department.Michael regularly advises clients in connection with important workforce-related matters, including hiring and negotiating employment agreements for senior executives, sensitive executive separations, internal workplace investigations, employment claims and disputes, and employment issues arising in the context of mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies and other corporate transactions. Michael is known for using a pragmatic, efficient, and results-oriented approach, focused on achieving his clients’ desired business outcomes.Michael regularly guides clients through complex workforce issues, including, for instance allegations of workplace misconduct; restrictive covenant drafting, enforcement, and strategic evaluation; worker classification and wage-and-hour compliance practices; and the unique issues that arise in a unionized workplace. Michael’s experience covers a broad range of employment and labor laws at the federal, state, and local level, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and corresponding state and local laws.Michael has unique experience addressing labor and employment matters that arise in connection with corporate transactions, particularly for private equity firms. Michael has represented clients in over 2,000 transactions, including many large-scale multinational mergers, acquisitions, and asset carve-outs. He regularly conducts acquisition-related labor and employment due diligence and advises clients on the employment and workforce integration or separation implications of mergers, acquisitions, sales, and financings.In the litigation context, Michael represents employers in U.S. federal and state court litigation, administrative agency proceedings, and arbitrations arising out of alleged labor and employment law violations. Michael defends employers against actions brought by government agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor, as well as actions initiated by current and former employees. He also prosecutes suits against former employees and their new employers for breach of restrictive covenants.

MoFo’s GP + LP Global Summit 2023

12 Oct 2023