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Education

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

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • New York
  • Massachusetts

Barry P. Barbash

Senior Counsel

Washington
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
1875 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006-1238
T 202 303 1201
F 202 303 2201
bbarbashwillkie.com
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New York
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
787 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019-6099
T 212 728 8293
F 212 728 9293

Barry P. Barbash is the senior member of the firm’s Asset Management Department and has been a practitioner in the asset management area for over 40 years.  He combines deep private practice experience with extensive knowledge of the regulation of the asset management business, having, among other things, served from September 1993 until October 1998, as the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management.

Barry has a diverse practice covering all aspects of the asset management business.  He regularly advises investment managers and fiduciaries, independent directors and trustees, and mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, hedge fund, private equity fund and venture capital fund clients on a variety of transactional, compliance and regulatory matters.  His areas of experience include investment adviser operations, compliance procedures and policies and fund governance matters. He regularly represents buyers and sellers in asset management merger and acquisition transactions and restructurings and advises asset managers of all types in connection with administrative and court actions brought by securities regulators.  He has particular experience dealing with “status” issues arising under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. He has, in addition to serving as the Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, held staff attorney positions with the 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 plans law.  His practice has been focused on investment advisers, fiduciaries and securities regulation since 1978.

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Highlights

Barry P. Barbash is the senior member of the firm’s Asset Management Department and has been a practitioner in the asset management area for over 40 years.  He combines deep private practice experience with extensive knowledge of the regulation of the asset management business, having, among other things, served from September 1993 until October 1998, as the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management.

Selected Significant Matters

  • Serves as independent counsel to multiple mutual fund boards.
  • Lead partner in serving as legal counsel to numerous investment advisers of major U.S. mutual fund complexes and private funds.
  • Successful representation of numerous clients before the SEC in connection with examinations and potential enforcements actions.
  • Served as lead partner of numerous independent reviews of investment management firms.
  • Served as co-counsel in connection with obtaining SEC exemptive relief covering novel exchange-traded funds.

Selected Professional and Business Activities

Barry serves as Co-Chairman of the Investment Management Institute sponsored by the Practising Law Institute, Chair of the Private Funds Subcommittee of the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and Chairman of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Investment Management Regulation. He also serves on the planning committee of the Annual International Conference on Private Investment Funds, presented by the International Bar Association. 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.

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

Barry was named Lawyer of the Year in the area of Securities/Capital Markets Law in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

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)
  • Bloomberg BNA Securities Practices Portfolio Series No. 327, Hedge Funds: Structure, Taxation and Regulation (co-author)

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