Kirkland Adds Former SEC Official Alpa Patel to Investment Funds Group
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that Alpa Patel has joined the Firm as a partner in the Investment Funds Group in Washington, D.C., after several years of service at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Patel is the third significant hire with SEC experience to join Kirkland in recent months. The Firm announced Erica Williams and Marian Fowler had joined the Washington, D.C., office at the end of May.
“Alpa is a fantastic lawyer with unmatched insight into the regulations affecting private funds and private fund advisers. Her knowledge and experience will enhance our service to clients in navigating the increasingly complex U.S. regulatory environment and further strengthen our global investment funds practice,” said Norm Champ, partner in Kirkland’s Investment Funds Group.
Ms. Patel most recently served as Branch Chief of the Private Funds Branch of the investment adviser policy and rulemaking office of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management in Washington, D.C. As the Private Funds Branch Chief, Ms. Patel focused on implementing regulations affecting private fund advisers and assisted the SEC in developing policy initiatives relating to private funds and private fund advisers. She also worked closely with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) on matters relating to private funds and investment advisers. Prior to joining the SEC in 2011, Ms. Patel was an associate at Dechert LLP, where she advised clients on the structuring, formation, and private offering requirements of private funds and provided counsel to investment advisers and boards of directors in regulatory, compliance and corporate matters. Ms. Patel earned a law degree from George Washington University Law School and a bachelor’s degree from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University.
Kirkland’s investment funds regulatory practice is focused on advising clients on the most sophisticated and complex fund formation and operational issues, preparing clients for and advising clients regarding examinations by the SEC, FINRA and other regulators, and providing advice on novel issues arising under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Kirkland is a global leader in providing sophisticated advice to investment fund sponsors, institutional investors and other market participants in the alternative investment fund space. Kirkland offers clients the unsurpassed resources of a large, integrated, multidisciplinary, global team located across offices in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. With more than 230 dedicated Investment Funds attorneys, including 70 partners, few firms approach the breadth, depth and scope of Kirkland’s experience in investment funds legal services.
The Investment Funds Group expanded to Kirkland’s newest office in Boston last month with the addition of Sean Hill and Stephanie Berdik, who both joined Kirkland as partners from Proskauer Rose LLP in Boston.
About Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis LLP (www.kirkland.com) is a 1,900-attorney law firm representing global clients in investment funds, government, regulatory and internal investigations, private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions, restructuring, litigation and arbitration, and intellectual property matters. The Firm has 13 offices around the world: Washington, D.C., Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Shanghai.
