Simon Lorne, Chief Legal Officer of Millennium Management LLC, Discusses the Evolving Roles, Challenges and Risks Faced by Hedge Fund Manager General Counsels and Chief Compliance Officers

The task of serving as general counsel (GC) or chief compliance officer (CCO) of a hedge fund manager – or both – is becoming increasingly complicated and fraught with legal risk.  As regulatory and other obligations mount, GCs and CCOs face challenges in understanding their roles and devoting sufficient time to fulfilling their responsibilities.  At the same time, the SEC has indicated that it is willing to hold GCs and CCOs personally liable in certain circumstances for regulatory failures of the manager or its employees.  See “Recent SEC Settlement Clarifies the Scope of Supervisory Liability for Chief Compliance Officers of Hedge Fund Managers,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 6, No. 33 (Aug. 22, 2013).  To define the evolving risks to GCs and CCOs and best practices for navigating them, the Hedge Fund Law Report recently interviewed Simon Lorne, Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Millennium Management LLC.  With decades of hedge fund and securities industry experience to his credit, including service as GC of the SEC, Lorne offers a unique perspective on issues affecting hedge fund manager GCs and CCOs.  Among other things, our interview with Lorne addressed: reporting lines for GCs and CCOs; chief risks facing dual-hatted GCs/CCOs; potential conflicts of interest in simultaneously serving as GC and CCO of a firm; challenges of protecting attorney-client privilege for dual-hatted GCs/CCOs; conflicts of interest in acting simultaneously as GC for the manager and its funds; supervisory liability of GCs and CCOs; outsourcing of the GC and CCO roles; and division of responsibilities between a GC and CCO.  On September 30 and October 1, 2013, Lorne and other industry experts will speak at the Seventh Annual Hedge Fund General Counsel Summit, presented by Corporate Counsel and ALM Events at the University Club in New York City.  For registration and other information regarding the Summit, click here.  A $200 discount on registration for the event is available to HFLR subscribers and trial subscribers.

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