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Our Investment Management team is a one-stop shop offering a full range of legal services to the investment management community, so investment advisers, broker-dealers, hedge funds, private funds, financial planners, institutional investors and other industry participants may turn to one place for their legal needs.
Email: mboos@fredlaw.com
Office: 612.492.7180
Email: ssmalleyfleming@fredlaw.com
Office: 612.492.7497
Corporate Governance
Data Protection & Cybersecurity
Mergers & Acquisitions
Private Equity
Private Investment Fund Services
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Securities
Securities Litigation
“We add value to investment management operations through creative and practical legal counsel, permitting investment professionals and operating personnel to focus on managing and growing their businesses.”
Sten-Erik Hoidal and Sandra Smalley-Fleming featured in BMO Global Asset Management’s podcast “Protecting your practice: A cybersecurity roundtable.”
Our team keeps abreast of the business trends and shifting regulatory factors that shape the investment management industry, so we can anticipate how those changes may impact the activities of our investment management clients.
We understand that participants in the investment management industry offer a variety of services and products using a range of business models and operating platforms. We add value to investment management operations through our creative and practical legal counsel, permitting investment professionals and operations personnel to focus on managing and growing their businesses. We regularly assist compliance personnel and/or in-house legal counsel on regulatory and compliance matters. We represent investment advisers in the full range of formation, operational and regulatory matters, from advisory contracts to registration on Form ADV, as well as transactional matters such as mergers and acquisitions, internal reorganization and successions. We represent investment advisers to separate and managed accounts, advisers to pooled investment vehicles (hedge funds, private equity funds, and venture capital funds), and advisers who provide comprehensive wealth management financial services.
In addition, our attorneys are experienced in representing clients in all types of litigation matters, including strategy and litigation relating to the broker Protocol and departures from existing firms, complex, multi-party or class-action cases. We regularly represent clients in litigation involving claims from misrepresentation, securities fraud under state and federal statutes, negligence, unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty and churning to employment/independent contractor disputes, trade secret, non-compete/non-solicitation and raiding cases. We regularly represent clients on regulatory and compliance matters, including subpoenas, examinations, investigations, wells notices, and formal complaints by the SEC, FINRA, Department of Labor and State regulators. Our attorneys have served as counsel for receivers appointed by the court in the aftermath of Ponzi schemes, including in the Minnesota Print Services, Inc./Gerard Cellette Jr. receivership.
At Fredrikson & Byron we believe our Investment Management team offers a compelling value proposition for investment management clients. We work to staff each project in a way that maintains team continuity and ensures responsive, expert service to our clients in order to provide the most cost-effective legal advice possible.
Investment Advisers
We offer our investment adviser clients a range of investment management legal services tailored to each client’s business model and service offerings.
Investment management services include:
Broker/Dealers
Fredrikson & Byron advises brokers with regard to a broad range of regulatory and compliance issues, including:
Litigation & Arbitration
Fredrikson & Byron represents investment advisors, broker-dealers, financial planners and investment companies in state and federal courts, arbitration matters, and regulatory proceedings around the country. Our expertise includes:
Institutional Investors
We have experience representing investors – including family offices, pension funds, endowments, and high-net-worth individuals – in various matters, including:
We understand the increasing demands placed on many investors to properly evaluate various investment structures and terms, to receive transparent and timely reporting, to analyze and evaluate conflicts of interest that are inherent in most fund platforms, and to understand liquidity provisions. We provide counsel to help investors mitigate or otherwise manage structural risks and to preserve investor rights when unexpected events occur.
November 1, 2018
By Ryan C. Young & Matthew T. Boos
Over the last few years, the securities industry has seen increased efforts from the FINRA, the SEC and other state and federal regulatory authorities, to generally increase protections afforded to senior investors and prevent financial exploitation of seniors.
July 3, 2018
On June 28, California enacted a sweeping new privacy law that will have significant implications for companies across the country.
May 30, 2018
Join co-sponsors Fredrikson & Byron, Charles Schwab and BMO Global Asset Management on June 26 as leading regulatory, industry experts and attorneys provide Investment Advisors with strategies for their businesses and clients.
January 22, 2018
By Ryan C. Young and Matthew T. Boos
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published its 2018 Annual Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter on January 8, 2018.
July 27, 2017
By Ryan C. Young & Matthew T. Boos
On June 5, 2017, the Supreme Court placed a significant limitation on the SEC’s use of disgorgement in enforcement actions.
July 17, 2017
New cybersecurity regulations impacting broker-dealers and investment advisers in Colorado went into effect over the weekend.
June 15, 2017
By Ryan C. Young & Matthew T. Boos
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced a February 5, 2018, effective date for FINRA’s new rules aimed at addressing financial exploitation of seniors.
May 10, 2017
With cyber intrusions becoming more common and sophisticated, the New York State Department of Financial Services has implemented a new regulation to combat these ever-increasing dangers.
February 3, 2017
By Ann M. Ladd
Like it or not, ransomware is happening, and will continue to happen with increasing frequency. In fact, a recent survey indicates that 93 percent of phishing emails contain ransomware.
November 15, 2016
By Matthew T. Boos, Steven E. Helland & Karla L. Reyerson
In a trend that began several years ago and has migrated through several industries, investment firms are among those being targeted by enterprising plaintiffs’ lawyers alleging that the firms’ website are inaccessible to blind or otherwise disabled users. The claim is that the firms are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
June 30, 2016
By Sandra Smalley-Fleming & David D. Coyle
The SEC recently issued a press release announcing “that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to settle charges related to its failures to protect customer information, some of which was hacked and offered for sale online.”
April 7, 2016
By Debra J. Linder & Matthew T. Boos
On April 6, 2016, the Department of Labor issued its much-anticipated conflicts of interest final rule. Like the proposed rule, the final rule broadens the definition of fiduciary and will likely require more investment advisers to comply with the fiduciary rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as it applies to advice provided to both qualified retirement plan participants and IRA account holders.
February 5, 2016
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), through its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), has published its exam priorities for 2016. According to the SEC, these priorities reflect certain practices and products that may present heightened risk to investors and/or the integrity of the U.S. capital markets.
April 21, 2015
A recent statement by President Barack Obama warned of future changes to the fiduciary duties for financial advisers. While requesting the Department of Labor to update its fiduciary rules, President Obama stated, “It’s a very simple principle: You want to give financial advice, you’ve got to put your client’s interests first.”
February 12, 2014
By Matthew T. Boos & David E. Winkler
Last month, the National Examination Program (NEP) of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations published its 2014 examination priorities.
