Key Takeaways
- • Lowenstein Sandler elevated Hila Cohen to partner within its newly formed Venture Funds Launch Group, a specialized practice designed to advise emerging venture capital managers on fund formation and operational development.
- • Cohen's practice focuses on the full fund lifecycle for emerging managers, including fund formation, capital raising, regulatory compliance, adviser registration, carried interest structuring, and succession planning—addressing both legal and business considerations beyond basic vehicle creation.
- • The Venture Funds Launch Group integrates attorneys from Lowenstein's Investment Management & Private Funds and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital practices to provide cross-disciplinary support for founders transitioning from institutional investing roles to independent fund management.
- • Cohen, based in New York, brings practical experience advising investment professionals navigating the transition from established organizations to launching independent venture capital businesses, addressing specific challenges around management company structures, partner economics, and regulatory requirements.
Summary
Lowenstein Sandler has expanded its venture capital advisory capabilities by promoting Hila Cohen to partner and positioning her as a lead advisor within the firm's Venture Funds Launch Group. The group represents a structured practice designed to serve an underserved market segment: experienced investment professionals and founders launching independent venture capital firms for the first time.
Cohen's scope encompasses the full spectrum of challenges confronting emerging fund managers. Beyond straightforward fund vehicle formation, her practice addresses management company structuring, SEC investment adviser registration and ongoing compliance obligations, partner economics and profit-sharing arrangements, carried interest distribution frameworks, fundraising strategy and terms negotiation, operational infrastructure development, and long-term succession planning. This comprehensive approach reflects the reality that fund formation involves parallel tracks of legal, regulatory, and business decisions that extend well beyond standard legal documentation.
The Venture Funds Launch Group itself operates as an integrated team drawing from two of Lowenstein's established practices: Investment Management & Private Funds and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital. This structure allows the firm to deliver coordinated counsel across regulatory, transactional, and operational domains. The firm specifically highlighted that Cohen's background provides both technical legal expertise and practical business acumen regarding the distinct challenges investment professionals face when separating from larger institutions to establish independent platforms.
For emerging managers, the transition to independent operations introduces complex considerations that experienced investors within institutional frameworks may not have encountered directly. These range from structuring management entities to optimize tax efficiency and alignment of interests, to designing compliance programs that satisfy regulatory oversight, to planning for eventual platform expansion and key-person succession. Lowenstein's positioning of this dedicated launch group, with Cohen as a named partner, signals both market demand and the firm's strategic focus on this growth-stage segment of the venture capital ecosystem.
Cohen's scope encompasses the full spectrum of challenges confronting emerging fund managers. Beyond straightforward fund vehicle formation, her practice addresses management company structuring, SEC investment adviser registration and ongoing compliance obligations, partner economics and profit-sharing arrangements, carried interest distribution frameworks, fundraising strategy and terms negotiation, operational infrastructure development, and long-term succession planning. This comprehensive approach reflects the reality that fund formation involves parallel tracks of legal, regulatory, and business decisions that extend well beyond standard legal documentation.
The Venture Funds Launch Group itself operates as an integrated team drawing from two of Lowenstein's established practices: Investment Management & Private Funds and Emerging Companies & Venture Capital. This structure allows the firm to deliver coordinated counsel across regulatory, transactional, and operational domains. The firm specifically highlighted that Cohen's background provides both technical legal expertise and practical business acumen regarding the distinct challenges investment professionals face when separating from larger institutions to establish independent platforms.
For emerging managers, the transition to independent operations introduces complex considerations that experienced investors within institutional frameworks may not have encountered directly. These range from structuring management entities to optimize tax efficiency and alignment of interests, to designing compliance programs that satisfy regulatory oversight, to planning for eventual platform expansion and key-person succession. Lowenstein's positioning of this dedicated launch group, with Cohen as a named partner, signals both market demand and the firm's strategic focus on this growth-stage segment of the venture capital ecosystem.
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