Bill Fris serves as practice innovation attorney in Ropes & Gray’s asset management group. Drawing on hands-on experience representing investment funds and their managers, he partners with the firm’s practice technology and innovation teams to identify, build, and implement AI-driven solutions that enhance the way the group delivers legal services to its clients.
Before moving into his current role, Bill practiced broadly across the asset management group. His private funds work encompassed fund formation across a range of strategies, including hedge funds, real estate funds, and traditional buyout funds. His investment management practice involved representing investment companies—both registered and unregistered—and their advisers in regulatory and transactional matters, including the creation and operation of ETFs, mutual funds, and collective investment trusts. He routinely advised clients on investment adviser and fund compliance matters, and he completed a part-time secondment with a private equity sponsor focused on ESG compliance. Bill also represented clients in asset management M&A transactions, assisting both buyers and sellers in acquisitions of investment management businesses.
He has maintained an active pro bono practice at Ropes & Gray, with engagements spanning corporate matters and asylum representation. During law school, Bill co-led Duke Law’s Veterans Assistance Project and served as a staff editor of the Law and Contemporary Problems journal.