Michael advises a wide variety of clients in the asset management industry ranging from emerging fund managers launching their first private investment funds to seasoned fund managers with multiple funds and billions of dollars under management.
Michael assists fund managers with forming and organizing U.S. and offshore private investment funds and their related co-investment vehicles, parallel funds, and/or feeder funds, as applicable. He also helps clients structure their funds to address business, tax, and other regulatory considerations by using, among other things, blockers, splitters, intermediary holding companies, carry vehicles, or alternative investment vehicles.
Michael counsels clients on the best practices and legal requirements around fundraising and tries to put his clients in the best position to achieve their fundraising goals. In addition, Michael represents his clients in connection with all types of arrangements with institutional investors, such as corporate venture capital, foundations, family offices, banks, and fund-of-funds investors. Michael has years of experience negotiating and drafting side letters, anchor investment agreements, fund-of-one documents, and separately managed account agreements. He is very familiar with applicable market trends and standards, and his approach is to work with clients and their investors collaboratively to secure the investors’ investments for his clients.
In addition to forming funds, Michael advises clients on their regulatory obligations under U.S. federal and state securities and other applicable laws. He also helps clients structure their businesses to maximize flexibility from an operations perspective, minimize U.S. tax obligations, and allow for sharing of economics (i.e., carry) with advisers, scouts, and others.
A significant portion of Michael’s clients are venture capital fund managers. Michael has been, and continues to be, instrumental in building the firm’s venture capital fund practice. He has assembled a team of lawyers and other legal professionals with a deep knowledge of, and significant experience in, the venture capital industry to assist the firm’s venture capital fund manager clients with all aspects of their businesses, from fund formation to investments in portfolio companies. Under Michael’s leadership, the firm now represents more than 200 venture capital fund managers and is one of the most active venture capital fund practices among major law firms.
Michael was listed in the 2025 edition of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Dealmakers in America” in the areas of Private Investment Funds, Transactions, and Private Equity.
Credentials
Education
Michael received his B.A. in 1998 from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his J.D., cum laude, in 2001 from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was the Articles Editor for the Minnesota Intellectual Property Review.
Admissions
- California
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