Lawyer Overview

Robert Bagnall is a counsel in the firm's Securities Department, and a member of the Investment Management and Fund Formation Practice Groups. He joined the firm in 1996.

Practice

Mr. Bagnall represents a range of financial services clients, including investment advisers, mutual funds, private equity fund, hedge funds, broker-dealers and banks. He counsels clients regarding the full range of issues under the Federal and state securities laws. His representation of investment advisers includes assistance with registration and with the development and implementation of compliance policies and procedures, and support of clients in compliance examinations by the SEC and other regulators. He has frequently worked with clients on mergers and acquisitions of asset managers and spin-offs of portfolio management teams. He has assisted broker-dealers and retirement plan service providers with the structure and operation of wrap fee and other separately managed account programs. In addition, he has counseled fund managers and other advisers on cross-border structures for funds and cross-border offerings of advisory services and helped a foreign government draft its mutual fund regulations.

Mr. Bagnall served as Senior Special Counsel in the Office of Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management from 1995 through 1996. In that office, he supervised no-action letters and special projects and served as liaison for interpretive questions arising in disclosure review and in inspections of investment companies and investment advisers. He also served as Assistant Chief of the Office of Regulatory Policy, which is responsible for rulemaking under the Investment Company Act and other federal securities laws and produced the report, Protecting Investors: A Half Century of Investment Company Regulation.

Professional Activities

Mr. Bagnall is Secretary of the Investment Funds Committee of the International Bar Association. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center for several years and speaks frequently at conferences.

Publications

Mr. Bagnall is a co-author, with Marianne Smythe and James Anderson, of Investment Advisers: Law and Compliance (Matthew Bender 2002). His other professional publications include: “Portability of Investment Performance” (The Journal of Investment Consulting, December 1998) (with Marianne Smythe and Cherie Macauley); "The Changing Shape of Closed-End Funds" (The Investment Lawyer, March 1998); “SEC Issues Three New Releases” (Schwab Compliance Review, December 1997); “SEC Adopts Rules Governing Federal and State Regulation of Advisers” (The Investment Lawyer, May 1997) (with Jeremy Rubenstein); “SEC Staff Permits Fund Advertisements and Sales Literature To Include Performance of Other Accounts” (The Investment Lawyer, April 1997) (with Sarah Wagman); “The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996” (Securities Regulation Law Journal, Spring 1997) (with Kimble Cannon); and “Recent SEC Staff Positions Concerning Fund Use of Other Account Performance” (The Investment Lawyer, September 1996) (with Phillip S. Gillespie).

Honors and Awards

• Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2008, 2009 and 2010 in the area of mutual funds law
• Recognized as a leader in the financial services: asset management regulation regulation in the 2007 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
• Recognized for exceptional standing in the legal community in the area of investment management in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2005 and 2006 editions

Areas of Practice

• Securities
• Investment Management
• Fund Formation

West Practice Categories

Joint Ventures, Public Finance, Securities Law, Venture Capital

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York

Education

• Harvard Law School, 1985
  JD
• Yale University, 1977
  BA
  Honors: summa cum laude

Published Works

• Chapter 53: Specific Corporate Compliance Challenges by Industry: Asset Management for Hedge Funds, Investment Advisors and Registered Funds, 2009
• Portability of Investment Performance, 2003
• Investment Advisers: Law and Compliance, 2002
• The Changing Shape of Closed-End Funds, 1998
• SEC Issues Three New Releases, 1997
• The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, 1997
• SEC Adopts Rules Governing Federal and State Regulation of Advisers, 1997
• SEC Staff Permits Fund Advertisements and Sales Literature To Include Performance of Other Accounts, 1997
• Recent SEC Staff Positions Concerning Fund Use of Other Account Performance, 1996

Address

1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Phones

+1 202 663 6974 (Business Phone)

Faxes

+1 202 663 6363 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.wilmerhale.com