Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hit Willkie Farr & Gallagher for a quartet of registered funds partners, citing a growing client focus on retail market products. 

Anne Choe, Justin Browder and Neesa Patel Sood have joined the firm in Washington DC, while Bissie Bonner has moved over in New York. The team will focus on registered funds and regulatory and enforcement matters relating to them, Simpson Thacher said. 

“Simpson Thacher is the go-to advisor for alternative asset managers, many of whom view developing retail market products as central to their future growth plans,” said Alden Millard, chair of the firm’s executive committee. “Adding this team will enable us to meet this increasing client demand.”

The team’s hire will bring the firm’s registered funds practice to nearly 25 partners and comes just a week after partner Evan Hudson, who focuses on real estate and capital markets matters, joined the practice in New York from Alston & Bird. 

The incoming team advises on the structuring, launch and day-to-day operations of funds and investment platforms, as well as providing corporate governance advice to investment advisers and boards. The group also has extensive experience advising on complex regulatory matters involving pooled investment vehicles and investment advisers, with Choe and Browder particularly noted for their experience representing advisers and funds in SEC examinations and enforcement proceedings. 

Rajib Chanda, head of Simpson Thacher’s registered funds practice, pointed to the incoming team’s ability to “develop cutting-edge strategies and regulatory solutions for asset managers looking to seize opportunities in the retail, private wealth and institutional markets”.

He added that their hire would enhance the practice’s offering to clients “operating amidst increasingly complex regulatory oversight”.

Simpson Thacher also boosted its registered funds practice last year with the hire of veteran Skadden partner Kenneth Burdon, who joined in Boston in May ahead of the firm’s launch in the city. Registered funds partner Nathan Somogie also relocated to Boston from Simpson Thacher’s New York office. 

The New York-based firm also hired a trio of partners from A&O Shearman and Clifford Chance last November to open an office in Luxembourg advising sponsor clients on the formation of private and registered funds, amid the country’s rise as a premier hub for private equity and investment funds over the past decade.