Leading investment funds practice joins DLA Piper

Global law firm DLA Piper announced today the addition in Texas of a six-partner team extensively experienced in the representation of institutional investors in connection with their alternative investments and other matters.

The team, which includes David Parrish, Nicole Brennig, Elise Green, Philip Svahn, Sara Stinnett and Richard Cardillo, represents many of the world’s largest and most active foreign and domestic pension plans, endowments, insurance companies, private market solutions providers, family offices and other financial institutions.

For more than a decade, this team has represented institutional investors in domestic and foreign alternative investments. In addition, the team advises institutional capital in connection with secondary transactions, syndicated and direct co-investments in portfolio companies and transactions, fund restructurings, general partner removals, advisory board matters, fund and advisor acquisitions and other consolidations, fund dissolutions, pre-IPO private investments, private investments in public equities (PIPEs), Rule 144A equity and debt transactions and swaps, derivatives and other hedging strategies. 

The team’s experience spans alternative investment and institutional investor classes and includes:

"DLA Piper is committed to delivering unparalleled service and value to clients around the world," said Roger Meltzer, DLA Piper's global co-chairman and co-chairman for the Americas. “The world’s leading institutional investors and investment funds rely on this highly sophisticated team because of their extensive experience and their unique insight into the marketplace.”

The volume and breadth of the team’s practice provide unique visibility into current and trending legal and commercial terms across asset classes. The team tracks, manages and delivers this market intelligence to clients and other market participants. 

"We have always tried to find creative and effective ways to serve our clients," said David Parrish. "We look forward to leveraging the breadth and resources of the DLA Piper platform to better help our clients as they pursue their investment strategies throughout the world."

The team is also heavily involved in investor-education efforts with respect to alternative investments through active engagement in the American Bar Association, Institutional Investor Subcommittee, the Institutional Limited Partner Association, the National Public Pension Attorneys Association, the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA), the Texas Association of Public Pension Plan Attorneys (TAPPA) and other organizations. 

"The addition of this team is also an important strategic component of our ongoing regional expansion in Texas," said John Guaragna, managing partner of the firm’s Austin office. "We are thrilled to welcome them to the firm."

Other recent arrivals in Texas include Employment partners Marc Katz and Isabel Crosby, Corporate partner Steven Bartz and Litigation partners Rob Hoffman, Michael Moore and Matthew Nickel, all in the Dallas office.