Investment advisers
Counsel to registered investment advisers — retail, private fund and dual registrants — in formation, operations and regulation under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. A statute that took the idea “be careful with other people’s money” and gave it several thousand pages of implementation notes.
The gap.
Most adviser problems are not misconduct. They are a gap between the compliance manual and the firm’s actual daily behavior. Examiners find the gap by comparing the two. So should you, first.
What the manual says
What the exam finds
Advertising and marketing materials are reviewed and approved before use.
A performance deck went out from someone’s laptop in March and nobody kept a copy.
The firm maintains and tests written policies reasonably designed to prevent violations.
The manual was purchased in 2019 and still describes a business the firm no longer runs.
Conflicts of interest are identified and disclosed.
The conflict is disclosed. It is disclosed on page 41, in a sentence that does not name it.
Books and records are preserved in the required form and manner.
Business is conducted in three messaging apps, one of which deletes itself.
The compliance program is reviewed at least annually.
It was reviewed. The review is a calendar entry with no memorandum behind it.
None of the right-hand column is unusual, and none of it is evidence of bad intent. It is what happens when a firm grows faster than its documentation. The work is closing the gap deliberately, before someone else measures it.
Services
- Formation and registration, including state and SEC registration questions.
- Compliance programs, policies and procedures written for the firm’s actual business.
- Regulatory inquiry and examination assistance.
- Internal investigations and risk assessments.
- Client complaint response.
- Product due diligence, particularly for advisers recommending alternative investments.
- Training and rule interpretation.
- Operations and marketing reviews.
- Solicitor and investment adviser agreements.
Who calls
Retail advisers, private fund advisers and dual registrants. Firms preparing for a first examination or recovering from one. Advisers launching a fund, adding a solicitor arrangement, or discovering that a marketing practice needs a second look.
Related practice areas
Find the gap
before they do.
It is a much shorter conversation when nobody has scheduled an examination yet.
Start the conversationFootnotes
- General information about services. Not legal advice, and not a statement about any particular adviser’s obligations.
- The comparison table is invented for illustration. It describes common categories of finding, not any real firm or examination.