Jeremy C. Smith
Partner
Jeremy is a partner in the asset management group. Jeremy’s practice focuses on advising ETFs, mutual funds and closed-end funds, their independent directors, and investment advisers. Jeremy advises clients regularly regarding the establishment, registration, and operation of retail and institutional investment products, including ETFs, closed-end funds and wrap products. He has significant experience structuring and representing registered funds with alternative investment strategies. Jeremy regularly assists clients experiencing or anticipating compliance, examination, enforcement, or other regulatory issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory agencies. He also has extensive experience with exchange listing and compliance matters.
Experience
- Serves as counsel to the DoubleLine Funds and their board of directors with respect to a broad range of regulatory and compliance matters, including the creation of new products.
- Advises Goldman Sachs Asset Management regarding investment advisory matters related to its ETFs, mutual funds and its other asset management businesses.
- Serves as counsel to Thrivent ETF Trust in respect of the organization, registration and launch of its first ETFs, including ETFs using a semi-transparent active model.
- Serves as counsel to the Brighthouse Funds and Brighthouse Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly the MetLife Funds and MetLife Advisers, LLC), a fund complex with over $100 billion in assets under management.
- Acts regularly as issuer counsel in respect of closed-end investment company initial public offerings, most recently as counsel to DoubleLine Yield Opportunities Fund, DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund and DoubleLine Opportunistic Credit Fund.
- Acted as counsel to closed-end fund issuers in respect of a $600 million offering of mandatory redeemable preferred shares.
- Served as counsel to a family of funds employing merger-arbitrage, event-driven and other alternative strategies for over ten years, including through the course of the sale of the fund family’s investment adviser to a strategic acquirer.
- Advised a London-based investment adviser on the launch and operation of its U.S. mutual funds and related businesses.
Publications
- Co-author, “Converting Mutual Funds into ETFs,” The Investment Lawyer (June 2021)
- Quoted, “ETFs, Liquidity Rule to Dominate 2020 CCO Agendas,” Ignites (December 27, 2019)
- Featured, “Converting A Traditional Open-End Fund Into An ETF,” ETF.com (October 1, 2019)
- Quoted, “SEC makes changes to ETF regulation,” ETF Stream (September 26, 2019)
- Co-author, “Converting Traditional Open-End Funds into ETFs,” The Investment Lawyer (July 2019)
- Quoted, “With Liquidity Rule Now in Effect, Small Complex Liquidates,” BoardIQ (June 18, 2019)
- Quoted, “Proposed rule on fund of funds arrangements would reinforce board oversight duties,” Fund Directions (December 21, 2018)
- Quoted, “Liquidity Rule Delay Offers Reprieve but Few Answers,” BoardIQ (March 13, 2018)
- Quoted, “Electronic Board Books the Norm, But Paper Won’t Fold,” BoardIQ (December 5, 2017)
- Quoted, “Quest for More Valuation Information Continues: Survey,” BoardIQ (October 20, 2015)
- Quoted, “New Liquidity Rules Will Make Fund Managers More Chicken-Hearted,” The Wall Street Journal (October 2, 2015)
- Author, “Fund Boards Should Act on SEC’s Stealth Valuation Guidance,” BoardIQ (January 2015)
- Quoted, “US Money Market Fund Regulation: The Market Reacts,” IFLR Magazine (November 2013)
Presentations
- Panelist, “Director Considerations for ETFs,” Independent Directors Council 2021 Virtual Fund Directors Workshop (June 3, 2021)
- Panelist, “Leveling the Playing Field for ETFs: Impact of the SEC’s Proposed Rule,” Institutional Investor Legal Forum (October 30, 2018)
- Presenter, “Board Meeting Mechanics: Practical Issues for Fund Directors,” Independent Directors Council Webinar (October 3, 2018)
- Speaker, “Bond Fund Liquidity Management: A Board Perspective Distribution,” Distribution, Product and Pricing Considerations for Fund Directors within an Evolving Marketplace (September 10, 2015)
- Moderator, “Liquidity Issues and Other Challenges in Fixed Income,” Mutual Fund Directors Forum 2015 Policy Conference (April 9, 2015)
Education
- JD, Northeastern University School of Law, 2002
- BA (History), magna cum laude, University of New Hampshire, 1999
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- District of Columbia, 2008
- Massachusetts, 2002
- New York, 2013
Awards
- Rising Stars of Mutual Funds, Fund Directions’ Mutual Fund Industry Awards (2017)
- Legal 500 (2015, 2020)
- IFLR 1000 (2014-2023)