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Barry P. Barbash
Partner


MAIN OFFICE:
Washington
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
1875 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006-1238, U.S.A.
T 202-303-1201
F 202-303-2201
OTHER OFFICE:
New York
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
787 Seventh Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10019-6099, U.S.A.
T 212-728-8293
F 212-728-9293

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Barry P. Barbash joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in February 2006 as a partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Asset Management Group. He also serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. For the seven years prior to joining Willkie, Mr. Barbash was a partner and head of the asset management practice at another firm. From September 1993 until October 1998, he served as the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Investment Management.

Mr. Barbash has a diverse practice covering all aspects of the asset management business. He regularly advises mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, hedge fund and private equity fund clients on a variety of transactional, compliance and regulatory matters. His areas of expertise include mutual fund operations and regulation, hedge fund formation and regulation, private equity fund structuring and financing, venture capital fund operations and offerings, and fund governance. He regularly represents buyers and sellers in asset management merger and acquisition transactions and advises asset managers of all types in connection with administrative and court actions brought by securities regulators. He has particular experience and expertise dealing with status issues arising under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. He is also expert in representing fund boards.

Mr. Barbash regularly advises mutual fund, hedge fund, investment adviser, and broker-dealer clients and their sponsors and boards on a wide variety of regulatory compliance matters. When counseling these clients, he is often called upon to conduct detailed reviews of their investment management, administrative and marketing operations and to assist in the development of policies and procedures intended to enable them to meet their fiduciary and other legal obligations.

Mr. Barbash’s recent significant matters include representing major financial services firms in connection with: merger and acquisition transactions; joint venture arrangements; and the development of global investment management platforms.

Chambers USA (2012) ranks Mr. Barbash in Band 1 nationally for leading individuals practicing in the area of Investment Funds: Registered Funds.  Chambers USA (2012) and Chambers Global (2012) rank him also among the very top practitioners in the area of Hedge Funds. Mr. Barbash is also included in the 2013 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Selected Professional and Business Activities

Mr. Barbash is a member of the New York, Massachusetts and American Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Program Committee of the Investment Company Institute’s Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference and of the Advisory Board of Board IQ.

Mr. Barbash serves as Co-Chairman of the Investment Management Institute sponsored by the Practising Law Institute. He previously served as Co-Chairman of PLI’s "The SEC Speaks" (1997, 1998). He was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for exceptional achievement during his tenure as a member of the Senior Executive Service of the United States.

Mr. Barbash authored a chapter in Hedge Funds and Prime Brokers entitled "Corporate Governance by and for Hedge Funds" (Risk Books, 2007), and is the author of "The Investment Advisers Act of 1940: Regulation by Accretion," (Rutgers Law Journal, Spring 2008).

Prior Experience

While serving as the Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, Mr. Barbash was among the most senior financial services regulators in the United States, with principal oversight for, among other businesses, the multi-trillion dollar mutual fund industry.  As Division Director, Mr. Barbash served as the SEC's principal contact with investment management regulators from around the globe. This experience makes him one of the best-known authorities in the world on investment management law and practice. He remains an often cited authority on those topics.

Prior to becoming Division of Investment Management Director, Mr. Barbash spent 13 years in private law practice with Willkie, where he specialized in the area of institutional investor law, representing investment adviser, broker-dealer, hedge fund and U.S. and offshore investment company clients. Prior to this time in private practice, he held staff attorney positions with the SEC's Division of Investment Management and the Plan Benefits Security Division of the Office of the Solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor, which has responsibility for the administration of the fiduciary responsibility provisions of the U.S. federal employee benefit plan laws.

Selected Publications and Lectures
  • "Valuing The Invaluable," Law360 (March 6, 2012, co-author)

  • "SEC Adopts Rule Defining ‘Venture Capital Fund’ for Purposes of Exemption From The Investment Advisers Act," New York Law Journal (September 2011, co-author)

  • "Supreme Court Adopts Rule of Narrow Construction for Rule 10b-5," New York Law Journal (June 23, 2011, co-author)
Education
1978, Cornell Law School, J.D.
1975, Bowdoin College, A.B.

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
New York
Massachusetts


Practice Focus
Asset Management

Corporate and Financial Services

Education
  • 1978, Cornell Law School, J.D.
  • 1975, Bowdoin College, A.B.

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
New York
Massachusetts




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