Fund formation Forum

[Anonymous User]

Thinking of listing fund formation group as my top choice for my firm when I join. What are the exit options coming from a band 1 fund formation group at a v50 firm?

[thesealocust]

Other firms doing fund work, inhouse work at funds doing regulatory work, related government agencies.

Hint: the answer, for the most part, is not becoming a hedge fund manager (or being employed by one on the business / non-legal side of things)

[Anonymous User]

Other firms doing fund work, inhouse work at funds doing regulatory work, related government agencies.

Hint: the answer, for the most part, is not becoming a hedge fund manager (or being employed by one on the business / non-legal side of things)

I got that. Don't have the expertise to be on the business side. Do you consider this area of legal work intellectually challenging? I got some lower level projects assigned to me before and am drawn to it because it seems people have a semi-decent ability to schedule their lives around their work. What are some of the challenging issues higher level associates encounter? (Really don't want to go to associates I'll be working with in the future asking this).

[thesealocust]

I personally find it very interesting. Fund formation from the legal end is a lot of paper pushing, but your "moments of glory" will be designing and implementing legal frameworks and business structures that save your clients money and make their lives easier. Like all other biglaw practices, some of it is comidified and you're hire as an expert to rubber stamp it - but there's also innovation, interpretation, and all of the intellectual things that make practicing law actually pretty cool (from time to time).

I'd say something cute like "but it's not moustache-twirling and tax evading" but I think it pretty much is. We're talking about an industry that holds its conferences in the cayman islands, after all.

[Anonymous User]

I personally find it very interesting. Fund formation from the legal end is a lot of paper pushing, but your "moments of glory" will be designing and implementing legal frameworks and business structures that save your clients money and make their lives easier. Like all other biglaw practices, some of it is comidified and you're hire as an expert to rubber stamp it - but there's also innovation, interpretation, and all of the intellectual things that make practicing law actually pretty cool (from time to time).

I'd say something cute like "but it's not moustache-twirling and tax evading" but I think it pretty much is. We're talking about an industry that holds its conferences in the cayman islands, after all.

Thank you!

[Anonymous User]

I personally find it very interesting. Fund formation from the legal end is a lot of paper pushing, but your "moments of glory" will be designing and implementing legal frameworks and business structures that save your clients money and make their lives easier. Like all other biglaw practices, some of it is comidified and you're hire as an expert to rubber stamp it - but there's also innovation, interpretation, and all of the intellectual things that make practicing law actually pretty cool (from time to time).

I'd say something cute like "but it's not moustache-twirling and tax evading" but I think it pretty much is. We're talking about an industry that holds its conferences in the cayman islands, after all.

Thanks so much for your wonderful advice.

If I am interviewing for a position in fund formation practice, how do you think I should answer the why fund formation question? I am thinking of something like I enjoy drafting and negotiating transactional documents, working with sophisticated clients, having a general interest in the world of finance, fund formation being a stable and consistent practice area, etc.

[Anonymous User]

I personally find it very interesting. Fund formation from the legal end is a lot of paper pushing, but your "moments of glory" will be designing and implementing legal frameworks and business structures that save your clients money and make their lives easier. Like all other biglaw practices, some of it is comidified and you're hire as an expert to rubber stamp it - but there's also innovation, interpretation, and all of the intellectual things that make practicing law actually pretty cool (from time to time).

I'd say something cute like "but it's not moustache-twirling and tax evading" but I think it pretty much is. We're talking about an industry that holds its conferences in the cayman islands, after all.

Thanks so much for your wonderful advice.

If I am interviewing for a position in fund formation practice, how do you think I should answer the why fund formation question? I am thinking of something like I enjoy drafting and negotiating transactional documents, working with sophisticated clients, having a general interest in the world of finance, fund formation being a stable and consistent practice area, etc.

thesealocust or someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression was that you don't do as much negotiating as a fund formation lawyer as in some other practices in corporate. You're really just working with the fund sponsor, rather than a lot of counterparties (such as if you were doing M&A, LBOs, etc). So, I don't know if you want to sell yourself as wanting to do fund formation for it's negotiating opportunities.

[Anonymous User]

I personally find it very interesting. Fund formation from the legal end is a lot of paper pushing, but your "moments of glory" will be designing and implementing legal frameworks and business structures that save your clients money and make their lives easier. Like all other biglaw practices, some of it is comidified and you're hire as an expert to rubber stamp it - but there's also innovation, interpretation, and all of the intellectual things that make practicing law actually pretty cool (from time to time).

I'd say something cute like "but it's not moustache-twirling and tax evading" but I think it pretty much is. We're talking about an industry that holds its conferences in the cayman islands, after all.

Thanks so much for your wonderful advice.

If I am interviewing for a position in fund formation practice, how do you think I should answer the why fund formation question? I am thinking of something like I enjoy drafting and negotiating transactional documents, working with sophisticated clients, having a general interest in the world of finance, fund formation being a stable and consistent practice area, etc.

thesealocust or someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression was that you don't do as much negotiating as a fund formation lawyer as in some other practices in corporate. You're really just working with the fund sponsor, rather than a lot of counterparties (such as if you were doing M&A, LBOs, etc). So, I don't know if you want to sell yourself as wanting to do fund formation for it's negotiating opportunities.

Thank you for your advice. That's a good point I will remember.

Any other suggestions?