Overview
Our comprehensive family office practice comprises a global team of lawyers with experience advising family offices established by ultra-high-net-worth families in the United States and around the world. Situated across the United States, Europe and Asia, our lawyers have extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of asset management, tax and benefits, trusts and estates, charitable planning, private equity, venture capital and regulatory compliance. We collaborate seamlessly across practice groups and geographies to manage our relationships with clients on a truly global basis. A family office has the multi-disciplinary needs of a private company; our attorneys understand the added complexity, and responsibility of, managing wealth within a unique family dynamic.
Our clients include:
- Wealth from successful principals within the private equity, investment management, biotech and technology industries
- Wealth benefitting multiple generations and involving complex family, trust, philanthropic and investment structures
- International families with family members and assets located across the globe
- Family offices with assets under management ranging from $100 million to over $10 billion
Our work falls into several categories:
Experience
Asset Management
- Structured family office investment vehicles
- Advised on fund formations and fund investments, including review of fund documents
- Provided investment management advice, spanning the spectrum of SEC regulatory exemptions to advising on private and public company investment to investment review
- Advised on derivatives provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act and negotiate derivatives documentation
- Advised on funds with sophisticated structures necessitated by tax and/or regulatory goals, such as master-feeder funds, multiseries trusts, and mirror or parallel funds
- Advised on registered funds investing in hedge funds, commodities and other alternative investment asset classes, and funds with cross-border and international investment strategies
- Advised on direct investment transactions and co-invests
Tax
- Advised on investment activities, discussing U.S. and non-U.S. tax issues, ERISA and other regulatory issues related to those investments
- Reviewed and negotiate tax-related provisions in fund documents for family office investments in private equity funds, hedge funds and real estate funds
- Advised on structure and jurisdiction of holding vehicles for tax-efficient investment structures and employee benefit plan compliance
- Analyzed and provide tax and structuring advice on co-investment opportunities and venture capital investments
- Provide ongoing advice to fund operations, including applying fund allocation and distribution provisions in particularly complex situations and creating alternative investment vehicles and structures for investments that raise special tax issues for a class of investors or the fund as a whole
Trusts & Estates
- Developed sophisticated estate planning strategies
- Coordinated complex gifting programs
- Developed customized fiduciary structures to manage trusts
- Advised foreign donors on gifting strategies benefiting U.S.-resident family members
- Advised on succession planning, including family office ownership, structuring and continuity issue
Charitable Planning
- Developed creative strategies to transfer wealth to charitable entities
- Advised family foundations and family offices on charitable giving, including foreign grantmaking
- Guided charitable entities on developing and implementing impact investments
Impact Investing
- Experience pioneering global impact investing transactions across a variety of sectors, including:
- Sustainable agriculture;
- Renewable energy;
- Conservation;
- Microfinance;
- Health;
- Education; and
- The provision of basic goods and services
- Uniquely positioned to identify and effectively manage the unique risks and opportunities that exist throughout the life cycle of an investment
- Utilize our market-leading strategies and insights in corporate social responsibility as well as venture philanthropy, having represented individuals, institutions and families for more than a century in their charitable pursuits
Employee Benefits
- Advice regarding required aggregation rules for employee benefit plans of investments that include operating companies with employees
- Coordinated employee benefits between family offices and foundations, particularly with shared services employees
Real Estate
- Handled acquisitions, sales, financings, co-investments and joint venture investments
- Advised on development, design and construction-related projects
- Handled commercial and residential real estate investments and transaction
Intellectual Property
- Created joint ventures, strategic alliances and collaborations with technology, financial services, life sciences and companies in other tech industries
- Assisted with international technology transfers and cross-border transactions
- Analyzed specialized IP holding company, financing, monetization and debt structures
- Negotiated complex pharmaceutical, technology and IP licensing deals
Employment Law
- Negotiated agreements for highly compensated executives
- Assisted with compliance with wage and hour laws, and employing non-U.S. citizens
- Advised on personnel policies and practices