About

The Hedge Fund Law Blog was created by Bart Mallon and is maintained by Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP

Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP

Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP is a premier boutique investment management law firm, providing top-tier, responsive and cost-effective legal solutions for financial services matters. Headquartered in San Francisco, Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP has an international practice that services both start-up investment managers, as well as multi-billion dollar firms. The firm provides a full suite of legal services to the investment management community, including: hedge fund, private equity fund, venture capital fund, mutual fund and UCITS fund formation, adviser registration, counterparty documentation, SEC, CFTC, NFA and FINRA matters, seed deals, hedge fund due diligence, employment and compensation matters, and routine business matters.

Bart Mallon

Prior to co-founding Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP, Bart worked for a boutique law firm focused on the investment management industry. His career has been focused on helping investment managers start and grow their businesses and he provides comprehensive support to firms throughout the country. His practice centers around forming domestic and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds, and other types of pooled investment vehicles. He also provides advice on management company operational issues, separately managed account structures, as well as registration and compliance matters. He has held a number of exam licenses including: the Series 3, Series 7, Series 24, Series 34, Series 63 and Series 65.

Bart also created and runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and has been quoted in a number of high-profile industry publications including the Wall Street Journal, Futures Magazine, Bloomberg Compliance Update, and Absolute Return + Alpha.

Bart lives in San Francisco and enjoys running (half-marathons) and golf.

Bart can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

Karl Cole-Frieman

Prior to founding Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP, Karl Cole-Frieman was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Standard Pacific Capital, LLC (“Standard Pacific”), an SEC registered hedge fund manager in San Francisco with offices in New York, Hong Kong, and a sub-advisor in Tokyo. In addition to managing the Legal and Compliance Departments at Standard Pacific, Karl was also responsible for Human Resources, IT, General Administration, as well as certain operations and strategic matters for Standard Pacific’s credit strategy. During his tenure at Standard Pacific, Karl launched fifteen funds in five strategies and counseled the firm on critical regulatory, strategic, operational, financial, tax and litigation matters.

Before joining Standard Pacific, Karl was Associate General Counsel of Sagamore Hill Capital Management, L.P., a multi-strategy hedge fund in Greenwich, Connecticut, with an office in London. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JP Morgan”), where he was lead counsel for Loan Trading and Distressed Debt, and actively involved in the Loan Syndications and Trading Association. During his tenure at JPMorgan and predecessor Hambrecht & Quist, Karl also supported the M&A, Corporate Finance and Private Equity Groups. He began his career in 1997 as an Associate in the Litigation Department of Shearman & Sterling.

Karl lives with his wife, Wanda, and twins, Isaac and Taylor, in Oakland, CA, where he participates in CrossFit and competes year-round in trail races, marathons and ultra-marathons.

Karl can be reached directly at 415-352-2300.

Aisha Hunt 

Aisha Hunt has extensive legal experience counseling investment managers, broker-dealers, and private and registered funds on complex and sophisticated investment management legal issues. She has represented some of the most prominent investment managers and mutual fund families in the United States. Her clients have ranged from fund families with over $100 billion in assets to offshore funds and Section 529 college savings plans.

Aisha leverages her significant in-house experience and industry-specific knowledge to provide practical legal solutions to assist clients in meeting their business objectives, while satisfying legal requirements and regulatory expectations. Her practice focuses on counseling investment managers, broker-dealers and mutual funds, including alternative mutual funds, on new product initiatives, complex business transactions, risk assessment and mitigation strategies and day-to-day business operations. She is also experienced in structuring and forming UCITS funds and advising on cross-border registrations and private placements in the U.S., EU, Asia and Latin America.

Prior to joining Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP, Aisha was a Partner at Budinger Hunt PC, a boutique investment management law firm that she co-founded. She has also served as Senior Counsel at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and Vice President of Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, as well as Associate General Counsel at Dodge & Cox. Prior to serving as in-house counsel at Wells Fargo and Dodge & Cox, Aisha practiced law at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she advised investment managers on the formation and operation of venture capital funds and general corporate securities matters.

Aisha runs the Alternative Mutual Funds division

Aisha can be reached directly at 415-762-2854.

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