Bertrand C Fry has joined the Pryor Cashman as a partner in the firm’s Investment Management Group. With Jonathan T Shepard, Fry will co-head theGroup and lead a team addressing a full range of legal and regulatory issues that affect alternative investment fund advisers.
Fry brings nearly 20 years of corporate and transactional experience to the firm, including extensive experience with alternative investment vehicles from both in-house and law firm perspectives. Fry joins the firm from the D E Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, where he was Senior Vice President and served for a period as Acting General Counsel.
Fry’s practice focuses on advising and structuring private investment funds and counselling fund managers and advisers, as well as advising on mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, and other transactions. Over the course of his career, he has worked with a diverse array of US and non-US investment products, including vehicles engaged in macro, distressed, private equity, venture capital, and real estate investing, debt origination, and quantitative trading of securities and futures. While at D E Shaw, Fry advised entities which, at their peak, had nearly USD40 billion of assets under management across numerous strategies and funds.
Fry previously served as senior counsel in the London office of Dechert LLP, where he advised and launched numerous hedge funds, funds of funds, and their managers. He began his career as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York where he learned the art of the deal while working in one of the country’s strongest M&A practices.
“Bert’s deep experience with private investment funds, including his having advised on some of the most sophisticated and innovative fund structures in the industry, are tremendous assets to our firm and critical to our efforts to continue expanding the reach of our Investment Management Group,” says Eric M Hellige, partner and chair of the Corporate and Securities Group at Pryor Cashman. “In addition to his impressive credentials as a professional, Bert has been on the inside and is the rare private practice attorney who has intimate knowledge of how funds operate and a keen understanding of their needs. Moreover, his strong transactional expertise is the perfect complement to our formidable litigation capabilities in this area.”
At Pryor Cashman, Fry joins a dynamic interdisciplinary team of attorneys serving private investment funds, drawing on the firm’s comprehensive experience in tax, ERISA, litigation, bankruptcy and distressed debt, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, real estate, and intellectual property. The firm’s clients range from global investment firms with assets under management of more than $29 billion to start-up managers and funds.
“I am excited to be joining Pryor Cashman, which offers a strong platform and client-focused interdisciplinary approach to its investment management practice,” says Fry. “The firm features a ‘best of’ roster of notable partners, many of whom developed their practices in large law firms. At Pryor Cashman, the partners are always accessible to clients and bring to bear their impressive talents in an environment of efficient, cost-effective excellence. As managers and funds across the private investment fund spectrum increasingly seek knowledgeable counsel for their legal and regulatory issues, I look forward to continuing to grow our practice and to work with our clients as business partners to provide the optimal solutions to their legal needs.”
Fry earned his JD, with honours, from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where he was also an articles editor for the Texas Law Review and received the Outstanding Second-Year Member Award from the Texas Law Review, the Gilbert I Low Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Law, and Highest Achievement in Contracts. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and of its Investment Management Regulation Committee.
