Thomas R. Hiller
Partner
Tom is a partner in the asset management group and his practice focuses on the investment management industry. He represents investment advisers in a range of investment products, including mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, commodity pools and separate accounts. Tom also provides ongoing advice to mutual funds and their independent trustees/directors. He has extensive experience with the following types of matters, among others: the organization of mutual funds, hedge funds and investment advisers; director duties with regard to advisory agreements and Rule 12b-1 plans; investment adviser registration issues; general conflicts and fiduciary duty issues; closed-end fund activist issues; fund reorganizations; fund-of-fund and master/feeder issues; affiliated transactions; and regulatory and compliance issues of all kinds affecting investment management industry clients.
Experience
- Represents Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., LLC and the GMO Trust mutual fund complex on a wide range of matters as primary outside counsel. Recent representative matters include the organization of three new funds, including one that operates as part of a master/feeder structure.
- Represents the Independent Trustees of the DWS Funds.
- Represents the Sterling Capital Funds and their independent trustees as primary outside counsel.
- Represents a leading hedge fund firm on a wide range of regulatory and compliance matters as primary outside counsel.
Publications
- Quoted, “SEC Cracks Down On Fund Names,” Barron's (March 6, 2020)
- Quoted, “Funds Bristle at SEC Request About Underlying Products,” BoardIQ (June 4, 2019)
- Quoted, “Private and foreign funds exclusion at issue in SEC proposal,” Compliance Reporter (May 9, 2019)
- Quoted, “Morningstar Takes a Different Route in Forming New Board,” BoardIQ (June 19, 2018)
- Quoted, “Asset Management Group Of The Year: Ropes & Gray,” Law360 (January 26, 2018)
- Quoted, “Cuts to Advisory Fees Being Driven by Advisers, Not Boards,” BoardIQ (October 10, 2017)
- Quoted, “Is 80 the new 72? Some Boards Upping Retirement Age,” BoardIQ (January 10, 2017)
- Quoted, “Independent Directors Seek Answers After Chair’s Arrest,” BoardIQ (February 11, 2015)
- Author, “What Boards Can Learn from SEC’s Summer Actions,” BoardIQ (August 11, 2015)
- Quoted, “He’s a One-Man Board, So There’s Not Much Dissent,” BoardIQ (July 28, 2015)
- Quoted, “Independent Directors Seek Answers After Chair’s Arrest,” BoardIQ (January 27, 2015)
- Quoted, “Is Combining Contracts Garlic Against 36(b) Plaintiff Attacks,” BoardIQ (April 22, 2014)
- Quoted, “For Whom the Bell Tolls? In the Fund World, It Tolls for B,” BoardIQ (September 24, 2013)
- Quoted, “Small Fund Board Escapes SEC Charges but Not Its Wrath,” BoardIQ (July 2, 2013)
- Quoted, “SEC Reviews Board Role in Repo Deals; IDC Urges More,” BoardIQ (February 12, 2013)
Presentations
- Host/Facilitator, “Director Discussion Series – Open Forum,” Mutual Fund Directors Forum (July 13, 2022)
- Speaker, “Final SEC Fair Valuation Rulemaking,” SIFMA AMG Webinar (December 16, 2020)
- Speaker, “Final Fund of Funds Rulemaking,” SIFMA AMG Webinar (October 21, 2020)
- Moderator, “Market Structure in the Fixed Income Market Today” and “Practical Issues - Board Oversight of Market Structure Issues,” Mutual Fund Directors Forum’s Best Execution in Today’s Complex Markets Conference (November 20, 2014)
- Presenter, “SEC Examinations: What Business People Need to Know,” 2013 Investment Adviser Association Annual Conference (May 2, 2013)
- Host/Facilitator, Mutual Fund Directors Forum’s “Director Discussion Series,” (July 19, 2012)
- Moderator, Independent Directors Council’s "2012 Investment Company Directors Workshop," discussion group on Board Governance (May 10, 2012)
Education
- JD, cum laude, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1994; University of Pennsylvania Law Review
- BA, magna cum laude, Colgate University, 1991; Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions / Qualifications
Qualifications
- Massachusetts, 1994
Awards
- Boston Magazine “Top Lawyers” (2021)
- IFLR 1000 Leading Lawyer (2016-2017), Highly Regarded (2018-2023)
- Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business (2022-2023)
- Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2007-2022)
- Legal 500 (2015-2020)
- PLC Which Lawyer (2010-2011)