Kirkland Bolsters Investment Funds Group with Addition of Jamie Lynn Walter in Washington D.C.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that Jamie Lynn Walter has joined the Firm’s Washington D.C. office as a partner to help build and grow the office’s Investment Funds Group. Ms. Walter was most recently a Senior Counsel in the Private Funds Branch of the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Ms. Walter has extensive public and private sector experience related to the investment management industry. As Senior Counsel in the Private Funds Branch of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, Ms. Walter provided legal advice and guidance on a wide range of matters involving the regulation of investment advisers and investment funds, including private funds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. She made significant contributions to several agency rulemakings and was a key member of the team that developed the Commission’s December 2015 proposed rulemaking on the ‘Use of Derivatives by Registered Investment Companies and Business Development Companies.’ She also provided subject matter expertise and guidance to the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and OCIE examination staff on matters relating to private funds and investment advisers, including pending examinations and possible enforcement actions.

Ms. Walter’s appointment follows a number of senior hires within Kirkland’s Investment Funds Group, which now includes more than 150 attorneys globally. In February 2016, Norm Champ, the former director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, joined as a partner in the New York office; and in March 2016, Aaron Schlaphoff, an attorney fellow in the rulemaking office of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC, also joined as a partner in New York. In Kirkland’s Washington office, Ms. Walter gains colleagues Robert Khuzami, the former director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Kenneth Lench, the former chief of the Structured and New Products Unit of the SEC’s enforcement division, as well as Robert Pommer, a former member of the trial unit at the SEC. Mr. Khuzami and Mr. Lench joined as partners in 2013, while Mr. Pommer joined as a partner in 2009.

“We are delighted to welcome Jamie to our growing and dynamic investment funds practice,” said Norm Champ. “As we look to complement our deep private funds expertise with unparalleled regulatory and enforcement capabilities, Jamie’s background and experience fits perfectly. She will be a huge asset to our clients who continue to grapple with a number of evolving regulatory demands.”

Before joining the SEC in 2013, Ms. Walter was in the asset management practice at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Prior to working in private practice, Ms. Walter was a law clerk to Judge Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“I am excited to join Kirkland’s funds group which is unique in both its scale and depth of expertise,” said Ms. Walter. “With the pace of regulatory change increasing, investment firms are in greater need of support to prepare for SEC exams, potential enforcement actions and proposed regulations. I look forward to using my experience to address our clients' ongoing needs as they navigate these changes.”

Ms. Walter holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from Tulane University Law School, where she was managing editor of the Tulane Law Review. She holds a B.A., cum laude, in Spanish and political science from Ohio University.

Kirkland & Ellis is a global leader in providing sophisticated advice to investment fund sponsors and select institutional investors with respect to all major alternative investment strategies. Operating as an integrated, multidisciplinary global team across offices in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Kirkland’s dedicated fund attorneys represent a diverse group of investment fund sponsors ranging from some of the world’s largest multi-strategy alternative asset managers and financial institutions to independent boutiques and sponsors raising first-time funds. In the past three years alone, Kirkland has advised more than 280 investment fund sponsors, raising more than 380 funds and representing more than $305 billion of capital commitments.