European law firm Fieldfisher has launched specialist law firm Cummings Fisher focusing on hedge funds, derivatives and the alternative investment management sectors.
Cummings Fisher is led by its three principal partners: Managing Partner Claire Cummings, who founded Cummings Law in 2003, is joined by partners, Ron Feldman leading the derivatives practice and James Tinworth leading the funds practice.
Cummings Fisher is based at 1 Mayfair Place in the heart of the UK’s hedge fund and alternative investment management district. It will specialise in funds, derivatives, financial services regulation and fund formation with enhanced capabilities provided by the additions of Ron and James at partner level and associate lawyers experienced in fund and financial services legal and regulatory issues.
The three principal partners offer a wealth of combined leadership experience in Cummings Fisher’s specialist areas.
Claire practices financial services law with a focus on regulatory issues, cryptocurrencies and tokens, trading and brokerage documentation and advising both existing and start-up funds and fund managers. James joins Cummings Fisher from Stephenson Harwood where he was a partner and head of the hedge funds practice. Ron was previously a partner at MJ Hudson and held senior positions at the London office of Schulte Roth & Zabel and in-house at the investment bank Credit Suisse.
Fieldfisher will provide Cummings Fisher with the full support of its international infrastructure of legal experts across a wider range of practice areas including tax, employment, data privacy, corporate, IP and technology. Cummings Fisher will also be able to make full use of the wide network of Fieldfisher offices in Europe and has its own global reach through associations with other buy-side focused law firms.
Guy Usher, Head of Financial Markets & Products at Fieldfisher, commented:
“The Cummings Fisher proposition fills a big gap in the market between traditional law firms and the sole practitioners serving clients in the alternative investments sector.
“Cummings Fisher will be the first London-based firm providing legal services solely to hedge funds, investment funds and their managers, combined with complex advisory and cost-efficient document handling using our near shore service centre in Belfast, which already has 30 trading document negotiators. It can also provide data extraction solutions using our Condor alternative legal solutions platform.”
Claire Cummings, Managing Partner at Cummings Fisher, said: “This is an exciting, innovative move as we continue to evolve to meet the fast-changing needs of legal service users.
“We share an ambition to develop Cummings Fisher to offer our clients in the alternative investment sector access to technically excellent, client-focused and commercially-based specialist legal advice in London as well as major European and global financial centres. We are now able to extend our expertise to provide a global reach for clients and build on our sector-leading advice to firms involved in emerging financing trends, such as crowdfunding, cryptocurrencies, payment platforms, tokenisations and digital currencies.
“We are delighted to be backed by a firm which provides us with access to a broad platform of comprehensive legal expertise, professional support resources and industry memberships, to which we can add specialist knowledge of alternative investments and our own recognised thought leadership and events.”
Claire Cummings founded Cummings Law, a law firm specialising in providing legal advice to a wide range of alternative investment funds and start-ups, in 2003 She practises financial services law with a focus on regulatory issues, cryptocurrencies and tokens, trading and brokerage documentation and advising both existing and start-up funds and fund managers.
Ron Feldman has broad experience in providing legal advice in relation to derivatives transactions and documentation, prime brokerage and asset custody arrangements to global financial institutions and alternative investment funds. He also provides regulatory advice on matters such as international derivatives reform. At Cummings Fisher, he expands the firm’s offering to buy-side clients in the alternative investment sector.
James Tinworth provides funds and UK financial services regulatory advice. His funds work focuses on hedge funds but advises in relation to all types of fund structures. James is a specialist in the AIFMD. He regularly advises on the structuring, establishment, operation and restructuring of investment funds. He has a depth of experience in a wide variety of fund launches and structures (both open and closed-ended, including hybrid hedge-private equity funds and UCITS) established in a number of both onshore and offshore jurisdictions.
