February 20, 2020
New York, NY (February 20, 2020) --- Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP today announced that Laura Friedrich has joined the firm as a partner in the Asset Management Group in New York. Ms. Friedrich will join the group’s private equity fund formation team, focusing on advising US domestic and international private investment fund sponsors, distributors and investors on formation, investment and regulatory matters. She previously served as global head of the Investment Funds team at Shearman & Sterling, where she was a partner for 12 years.
“Laura is a talented fund formation lawyer who is highly respected and a leader in the private fund and asset management community,” said Margery Neale, Chair of the Asset Management Group. “Her addition is a significant step in the expansion of our fund formation practice, and adds tremendous value to our growing client base of firms investing in the buyout, credit, energy, real estate, insurance and technology sectors. We are pleased to welcome Laura to the firm.”
Ms. Friedrich has extensive fund formation experience, working with both fund sponsors and investors in fundraising efforts for multibillion-dollar funds, as well as middle market, regional and sector-specific funds. Her clients include US and international private equity, venture capital and hedge funds and their sponsors with investments in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She has represented sponsors across numerous asset categories, including buyout, real estate, funds of funds, debt, energy, infrastructure, transportation and media. Additionally, Ms. Friedrich counsels funds and their sponsors on a broad range of business and transactional matters (including co-investments), internal management, and regulatory and compliance issues.
“Willkie’s dynamic PE fund formation practice combines the firm’s strengths in asset management and private equity into one of the leading platforms of its kind,” said Ms. Friedrich. “I am delighted to join this accomplished team, which serves many of the world’s largest sponsors, to further enhance Willkie’s capabilities to its clients.”
Ms. Friedrich is active in the asset management industry, currently serving as a member of the Legal & Regulatory Council of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), Private Investment Funds Forum, and New York City Bar Association Private Investment Funds Committee. She is recognized for her fund formation work by leading legal rankings/publications including Chambers USA (2019) and The Legal 500 (2019). She was also named one of the Top 100 Female Lawyers in Latin America by Latinvex (2018 & 2017).
Ms. Friedrich received a JD from University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as executive editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and an AB, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Willkie’s Asset Management Group of approximately 100 attorneys provides legal services to a wide array of clients in the asset management industry, including privately owned investment advisers, publicly traded asset management firms, broker dealers, insurance companies and banks, on subjects ranging from operations to fund formations, compliance and regulation. The group’s 250+ clients include funds, advisers and/or independent directors of more than 30 of the world’s most prominent asset management firms with AUM ranging from $4 billion to nearly $7 trillion.
With a team of more than 50 attorneys in New York, Washington, London and Paris, the firm’s private equity fund formation practice group represents over 130 clients. Over the past two years, the firm has advised sponsors on forming over 75 funds; financial institutions and wealth managers in the formation of 40+ access funds into private equity funds; a select group of family offices and institutional limited partners investing in private equity funds; and buyers/sellers in secondary transactions involving 300+ fund/direct portfolio positions. The group is recognized by Chambers USA (2019) for private equity fund formation, registered funds and regulatory and compliance matters.
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm of more than 700 attorneys with offices in New York, Washington, Houston, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan and Rome. The firm is headquartered in New York City at 787 Seventh Avenue. Tel: 212.728.8000.
“Laura is a talented fund formation lawyer who is highly respected and a leader in the private fund and asset management community,” said Margery Neale, Chair of the Asset Management Group. “Her addition is a significant step in the expansion of our fund formation practice, and adds tremendous value to our growing client base of firms investing in the buyout, credit, energy, real estate, insurance and technology sectors. We are pleased to welcome Laura to the firm.”
Ms. Friedrich has extensive fund formation experience, working with both fund sponsors and investors in fundraising efforts for multibillion-dollar funds, as well as middle market, regional and sector-specific funds. Her clients include US and international private equity, venture capital and hedge funds and their sponsors with investments in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She has represented sponsors across numerous asset categories, including buyout, real estate, funds of funds, debt, energy, infrastructure, transportation and media. Additionally, Ms. Friedrich counsels funds and their sponsors on a broad range of business and transactional matters (including co-investments), internal management, and regulatory and compliance issues.
“Willkie’s dynamic PE fund formation practice combines the firm’s strengths in asset management and private equity into one of the leading platforms of its kind,” said Ms. Friedrich. “I am delighted to join this accomplished team, which serves many of the world’s largest sponsors, to further enhance Willkie’s capabilities to its clients.”
Ms. Friedrich is active in the asset management industry, currently serving as a member of the Legal & Regulatory Council of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), Private Investment Funds Forum, and New York City Bar Association Private Investment Funds Committee. She is recognized for her fund formation work by leading legal rankings/publications including Chambers USA (2019) and The Legal 500 (2019). She was also named one of the Top 100 Female Lawyers in Latin America by Latinvex (2018 & 2017).
Ms. Friedrich received a JD from University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as executive editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and an AB, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Willkie’s Asset Management Group of approximately 100 attorneys provides legal services to a wide array of clients in the asset management industry, including privately owned investment advisers, publicly traded asset management firms, broker dealers, insurance companies and banks, on subjects ranging from operations to fund formations, compliance and regulation. The group’s 250+ clients include funds, advisers and/or independent directors of more than 30 of the world’s most prominent asset management firms with AUM ranging from $4 billion to nearly $7 trillion.
With a team of more than 50 attorneys in New York, Washington, London and Paris, the firm’s private equity fund formation practice group represents over 130 clients. Over the past two years, the firm has advised sponsors on forming over 75 funds; financial institutions and wealth managers in the formation of 40+ access funds into private equity funds; a select group of family offices and institutional limited partners investing in private equity funds; and buyers/sellers in secondary transactions involving 300+ fund/direct portfolio positions. The group is recognized by Chambers USA (2019) for private equity fund formation, registered funds and regulatory and compliance matters.
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm of more than 700 attorneys with offices in New York, Washington, Houston, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan and Rome. The firm is headquartered in New York City at 787 Seventh Avenue. Tel: 212.728.8000.
