David M. Geffen
Senior Attorney
David focuses his practice on representing registered investment companies and their directors and investment advisers. David joined the firm in 2014, after practicing for more than eight years as counsel in the Boston office of a global law firm. Prior to that experience, for more than ten years, he was an in-house attorney in Boston with the investment adviser to the Fidelity Investments family of funds.
David is the author of numerous legal articles relevant to investment management practice. His 2009 article in the Securities Regulation Law Journal was cited by the District Court for the Southern District of New York (and by Ropes & Gray LLP, representing the successful defendants) in the Court’s 2011 opinion in Yu v. State Street Corp. dismissing Securities Act claims against a mutual fund issuer. David’s January 2011 article in Bloomberg Law Reports was the first public recommendation that money market funds should be permitted to impose redemption (liquidity) fees during periods of market stress to deter redemption runs. The SEC quoted a portion of this article in the SEC’s June 2013 Money Market Funds Reform proposing release.
David has been quoted in a variety of publications concerning investment management matters, including Barron’s, Compliance Reporter, Ignites, Fund Directions, The Hedge Fund Law Report and Board IQ.
Publications
- Co-author, “Fund Directors’ Oversight of Investments in Cryptocurrencies and Other Digital Assets,” The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation (October 2021 issue)
- Featured, “Getting your ESG oversight right,” Fund Directions (January 30, 2020)
- Co-author, “Retail Investments in Private Funds: Regulatory Obstacles and Opportunities,” Wolters Kluwer (October 18, 2019)
- Co-author, “The IDC No-Action Letter: Rationalizing Mutual Fund Board Responsibilities and Having the Right Oversight Conversations,” The Investment Lawyer (April 2019)
- Co-author, “Information Update for Advisers Relying on the Unibanco No-Action Letters,” The Investment Lawyer (June 2017)
- Co-author and contributing editor, “United States,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2017)
- Co-author, “Global Overview,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2017)
- Co-author, “SEC Streamlines Actively Managed ETF Listings,” Compliance Reporter (August 29, 2016)
- Co-author, “Six Steps Boards Can Take to Address Auditor Independence Issues,” BoardIQ (August 9, 2016)
- Co-author, “United States,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2016)
- Co-author, “Global Overview,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2016)
- Co-author, “Board Duties Baked Into SEC Derivatives Proposal,” BoardIQ (March 22, 2016) (Subscription required)
- Co-author, “Global,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2015)
- Co-author, “United States,” Getting the Deal Through: Fund Management (April 2015)
- “Mutual Fund Sales Notice Fees: Are a Handful of States Unconstitutionally Exacting $200 Million Each Year?,” Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly (Fall 2012)
- “A Shaky Future for Securities Act Claims Against Mutual Funds,” Securities Regulation Law Journal (Spring 2009)
- “Dodd-Frank and Mutual Funds: Alternative Approaches to Systemic Risk,” Bloomberg Law Reports Investment Management Law (January 2011)
- “Mutual Funds’ Use of Credit Default Swaps Part I & Part II,” The Investment Lawyer (December 2009 & January 2010)
- “Revisiting MassMutual and Section 17(d) under the Investment Company Act,” The Investment Lawyer (August 2009)
- “Mutual Fund Investment Limitations Arising Outside of the ICA,” The Investment Lawyer (June 2009)
- “Identifying Downstream Affiliates under the Investment Company Act,” The Investment Lawyer (March 2009)
- “Classifying Affiliates under the Investment Company Act,” The Investment Lawyer (February 2009)
- “Another Critique of Mutual Fund Fees: Coals to Newcastle?,” Bloomberg Law Reports Securities Law (October 2008)
Education
- JD, Harvard Law School, 1987
- SB, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- Massachusetts, 1987