Matthew S. Eisenberg

Matthew Eisenberg has more than 27 years of experience advising investment management industry participants – including asset managers, investment funds (including hedge funds, private equity funds and funds of funds), single- and multi-family offices, pension plans and other institutional investors, and placement agents.

Mr. Eisenberg has significant expertise advising as to legal, regulatory and business matters, including: formation and structuring; registration and licensing; compliance policies and procedures; institutional separately managed accounts and “funds of one”; seed and founder investment arrangements; counterparty and service provider arrangements; marketing and distribution practices; joint ventures and other strategic transactions; and regulatory examinations and investigations.

Significant Representations

• Structuring and formation of investment managers, family offices and placement agents.
• Structuring and formation of private investment funds – including hedge funds, private equity funds and funds of funds – employing a broad range of investment strategies and structures.
• Advising asset managers (including single- and multi-family offices) and placement agents regarding investment adviser, broker-dealer, commodity pool operator, commodity trading adviser, state (“blue sky”) and other registration and compliance matters.
• Advising family offices, funds of funds and other institutional investors regarding seed, founder and strategic investments and allocations – through investment fund investments, “funds of one” and separately managed accounts.
• Legal, compliance and “market” review of hedge fund, private equity fund, venture capital fund and other investment fund offering and organizational documents and terms for family offices, funds of funds and other investors.
• Advising asset managers, family offices and placement agents regarding various operational matters, including: hiring, retention, compensation and supervision of employees and other personnel; development and implementation of compliance policies and procedures; and service provider and counterparty retention and arrangements.
• Advising asset managers regarding strategic transactions and arrangements – including joint ventures, sales of equity, mergers and acquisitions, exit strategies and succession matters.
• Advising asset managers and placement agents regarding marketing and distribution practices and arrangements, and related operational, regulatory and compliance matters.

Mr. Eisenberg is a member of the board of directors of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association. He is also a senior faculty member of the Regulatory Compliance Association. He has been a moderator and panelist at numerous industry events, and has been a guest lecturer at law schools -- regarding the investment management industry generally, investment fund formation and operations, investment adviser and commodity pool operator registration and compliance, seed investor arrangements, family office investments and investment allocations, and other topics. Mr. Eisenberg has also periodically testified as an investment management and hedge fund industry expert before governmental agencies and government-appointed commissions, such as Connecticut's Leadership in Corporation & Business Law Commission. Mr. Eisenberg earned his law degree from NYU School of Law in 1990. After law school, he joined the New York City law firm of Rogers & Wells in 1990. In 1993, Mr. Eisenberg joined the New York City law firm of Winthrop, Stimson Putnam & Roberts. From 1996 to 2007, Mr. Eisenberg was a Partner at an investment management-focused law firm based in Fairfield County, Connecticut, which he co-founded. From 2007 to the present, Mr. Eisenberg has been a Partner at Finn Dixon & Herling, and a senior member of its Investment Management, Investment Funds and Family Office practice areas.

CCO University Course: “Developing & Implementing an Investment Adviser Compliance Program”

"Upgrading Compliance", Regulatory Compliance Association  / Goldman Sachs Annual Hedge Fund Summit – Hong Kong, May 2017

“Allocations by Institutional Investors to Asset Managers”, Association of Corporate Counsel, September 2016

"Hedge Fund Fees", Global Alpha Forum, November 2015

"SEC Examination Practice", Regulatory Compliance Association, November 2015

Emerging Fund Managers Seminar Series, AIMA Canada, September 2015

"SEC & NFA Examinations", Regulatory Compliance Association, November 2014

KPMG Emerging Managers Forum - Focus on Hedge Fund Start-ups, June 2014

"Re-designing Compliance Practices, Controls & Infrastructures", Regulatory Compliance Association, April 2014

"Conflicts of Interest – Regulatory Scrutiny, Practices & Controls", Regulatory Compliance
Association, March 2014

Emerging Fund Managers Seminar Series, AIMA Canada, September 2013

"NFA Compliance Requirements & Audit Priorities for Fund Managers", Regulatory Compliance Association, May 2013

Third Party Marketers Association 2012 Annual Conference, November 2012

"SEC Examinations Panel", Compliance, Risk & Enforcement 2012 Symposium, Regulatory Compliance Association, October 2012

Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence Conference, FRA, October 2012

"Hedge Fund Revolution - Alternative Investment Focus", Meeting of the Americas Conference, March 2012

Guest Lecturer at Rutgers School of Law and Fordham Law School as part of the Regulatory Compliance Association's "Law School and Masters Concentration in Asset Management & Regulation", January and February 2012

"SEC Examination Panel", Annual Fall Asset Management Thought Leadership Symposium, Regulatory Compliance Association, November 2011

"The Transformation of Third Party Marketer Contacts and Compensation", Third Party Marketers Association, October 2011

"Non-U.S. Hedge Funds - Legal and Compliance Implications of Marketing in the U.S.", AIMA Canada, September 2011

"SEC Examinations of Fund Managers", Annual Asset Management Thought Leadership Conference, Regulatory Compliance Association, November 2010

"New Requirements for PE, VC and Hedge Fund Advisers under Financial Reform Legislation", Finn Dixon & Herling LLP Webinar Series, July 2010

Annual Asset Management Thought Leadership Symposium, Regulatory Compliance Association, June 2010

"Hedge Fund Regulation", Association of Corporate Counsel – Westchester / Southern Connecticut Chapter (WESFACCA), July 2009

"Going Offshore: Raising Capital in the United States", AIMA Canada, May 2009