RopesTalk

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Melissa Bender and Isabel Dische discuss a subset of impact investing – gender-lens investing. In the course of their conversation, Melissa and Isabel provide an overview of both the objectives and different types of gender lens investments.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Melissa Bender and Isabel Dische discuss how market participants are rethinking social factors – the “S” in ESG – in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their conversation focuses on why asset managers may want to consider integrating social factors into their investment analysis and some challenges in doing so.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Jason Brown and litigation partner Dan O’Connor discuss the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) risk alert providing observations and guidance on compliance issues for registered investment advisers that manage private equity funds or hedge funds. Based on years of experience representing registered investment...

The tenth installment of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Non-binding Guidance, focuses on FDA regulation of COVID-19 diagnostic tests, with a particular focus on employee testing. In this episode, chair of Ropes & Gray’s FDA regulatory practice, Greg Levine, interviews Lauren Silvis, a former FDA official and currently Senior Vice President of External Affairs for Tempus, a clinical molecul...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Isabel Dische and Lindsey Goldstein discuss what it means for a fund to “fall out of carry,” as recent months have shown some significant market declines in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll also discuss considerations that both fund sponsors and investors will want to keep in mind if their funds no longer accrue carry.

In this episode of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Culture & Compliance Chronicles, litigation & enforcement attorney Tina Yu talks with Julian Danobeitia, an executive coach and director at DownTheCorridor. The first of a two-part discussion, this episode focuses on how the legal and compliance functions are often perceived within organizations, and why that impacts their ability to pe...

The latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Culture & Compliance Chronicles, explores company culture in times of crisis. In the final part of a three-part discussion, litigation & enforcement attorney Amanda Raad talks with three partners at EY—Maryam Hussain, Melissa Myatt and Katharina Weghmann—all of whom study decision-making in the corporate context. In this episode,...

The latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Culture & Compliance Chronicles, explores company culture in times of crisis. In part two of a three-part discussion, litigation & enforcement attorney Amanda Raad talks with three partners at EY—Maryam Hussain, Melissa Myatt and Katharina Weghmann—all of whom study decision-making in the corporate context. In the last episode, t...

The latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Culture & Compliance Chronicles, explores company culture in times of crisis. In part one of a three-part discussion, litigation & enforcement attorney Amanda Raad talks with three partners at EY—Katharina Weghmann, Maryam Hussain and Melissa Myatt—who focus on behavioral science and decision-making in the corporate context. The...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Isabel Dische and Melissa Bender discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity for asset managers to evaluate how their portfolio companies are managing the pandemic (and likewise for institutional investors to evaluate their asset managers). They’ll also discuss how investors may want to apply lessons learned from recent market...

Under normal circumstances, credit fund managers that invest retirement plan money face multiple fiduciary and conflict of interest issues under ERISA that require special attention. These issues have been amplified by the current global health emergency and related economic crisis. In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Jessica O’ Mary and ERISA & benefits partner Josh Lic...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner George Raine is joined by tax partner Pamela Glazier to discuss the legal, tax and operational issues involved when 1940 Act registered interval funds invest in unregistered open-end real estate funds, as private fund managers look for new sources of capital, and registered fund managers look for alternative investments for their retail in...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Isabel Dische is joined by tax partner Dan Kolb and asset management associate Adam Dobson to discuss preferred equity deals in the private funds context. Following a brief explanation of what these deals are, they share why a fund sponsor or an investor may want to pursue a preferred equity financing, and provide details on the structures...

In the second episode of Ropes & Gray’s podcast series, Culture & Compliance Chronicles, litigation & enforcement attorneys Tina Yu and Amanda Raad, who co-chairs the firm’s global anti-corruption and international risk practice, continue their conversation with Jules Colborne-Baber, a partner and forensic audit expert at Deloitte UK, and Richard Bistrong, CEO of Front-Line Anti-Briber...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Joel Wattenbarger and associate Gideon Blatt discuss the federal banking agencies’ proposed amendments to the Volcker Rule’s covered fund provisions. They address the existing landscape, the agencies’ notice of proposed rulemaking and the potential impact it may have on the asset management industry.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partner Mike Doherty and counsel Laura Hirst discuss the 2009 Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program which the Fed established in response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis and, given current market conditions, what might be expected for the 2020 TALF program.

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, asset management partners Isabel Dische and Katie Waite discuss some of the reasons why the credit funds secondaries market has historically been smaller than the private equity secondaries market, and why and how that has been changing recently, including as a result of market declines triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Welcome to Culture & Compliance Chronicles, a new Ropes & Gray podcast series focused on the behavioral sciences approach to risk management. In this inaugural episode—part one of a two-part series—Ropes & Gray litigation & enforcement attorneys Amanda Raad and Tina Yu are joined by special guests Richard Bistrong, CEO of Front-Line Anti-Bribery LLC, and Jules Colborne-Baber, a par...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, benefits partners Loretta Richard and Josh Lichtenstein discuss the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (also known as the CARES Act) in the context of 401(k) plans and other tax-qualified defined contribution retirement plans, including coronavirus-related distributions and loans that can be taken from qualified defined contribution retirement plans...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, litigation & enforcement partner Dan Ward, ERISA and benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, and benefits principal David Kirchner discuss the recent $12 million settlement that has been agreed to in the Oracle 401(k) fee litigation, which includes some non-monetary requirements that could have a ripple effect on the routine cross-selling activities of third-party...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, Isabel Dische, partner in the asset management group, and Molly Moore, counsel in the asset management group, discuss steps buy-side market participants can take to understand and mitigate possible implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on their derivatives contracts. Topics covered include events of default and termination events as well as super-collateral events...

In this Ropes & Gray podcast, Ama Adams and Brendan Hanifin discuss new regulations implementing the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (“FIRRMA”). The new regulations, which took effect on February 13, 2020, significantly expanded the scope of CFIUS’s jurisdiction to review foreign investments in U.S. businesses. This podcast discusses the implications of FIRRMA for U.S. and non...

In the latest installment of Ropes & Gray’s alumni podcast series, Alumni @ RopesTalk, health care partner Christine Moundas interviews her former colleague, Jennifer Bealer, who left Ropes & Gray in 2017 to become executive vice president and general counsel of Progyny, a leading fertility benefits management company. Within two years of joining Progyny, the company went public. In this e...

In December 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a report in relation to undue short-term pressure on companies. In this Ropes & Gray podcast—the latest in a series of podcasts on ESG and corporate social responsibility issues—asset management partner Eve Ellis will provide an overview of the ESMA report and analyze key issues addressed in the report, such as th...