Susan Burkhardt is a partner in the Investment Funds Practice Group in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She advises sponsors on the formation, structuring, operation and governance of private investment funds, customized investment vehicles and other alternative investment products across a range of strategies, with a particular focus on private credit.
Susan has extensive experience representing private fund sponsors, particularly managers of credit platforms, in the formation and operation of both closed-end and evergreen fund structures. Her work spans a broad spectrum of private credit strategies, including direct lending, asset-based credit, special situations, opportunistic and distressed investing, as well as mezzanine and real estate debt.
In addition to fund formation, Susan advises sponsors on a wide range of operational, legal and regulatory matters at both the fund and manager level. Her experience includes advising publicly traded global asset managers and leading middle-market sponsors on funds ranging in size from approximately $100 million to more than $5 billion. She also brings an investor-side perspective, having represented institutional investors in commitments to private investment funds.
Susan regularly advises on the development and launch of innovative investment products and strategic investment structures, including single-investor funds, separately managed accounts, flagship and overflow vehicles, and bespoke multistrategy arrangements. Her work encompasses fund structuring, product development, investor negotiations, documentation, market positioning and commercialization considerations for some of the industry's most sophisticated institutional investors worldwide.
Representative Clients
- Atalaya Capital Partners*
- BGO*
- Blackstone Credit & Insurance*
- Blue Owl
- Castlelake
- Crescent Capital Group
- Dawson Partners
- Eldridge
- Evolution Credit Partners
- Neuberger Berman
- New Mountain Capital
- Oaktree
- Patient Square Capital
- Prospect Ridge*
- TCW*
*Prior to joining Kirkland
