Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, a national law firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, DC, announced the addition of Tram N. Nguyen as a partner in the firm’s Private Funds group. Ms. Nguyen is resident in Stroock’s DC office, where she joins Robert E. Plaze, who before founding that office as a partner, was the Deputy Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management.
Ms. Nguyen joins Stroock from the Securities and Exchange Commission, where most recently she was Chief of the Private Funds branch of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. While in that capacity, she led rulemaking and related initiatives affecting private fund advisers, including rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, exemptions from registration for venture capital and foreign private advisers, and Volcker rule provisions affecting banks’ ability to sponsor and invest in hedge funds. Ms. Nguyen also worked on the Commission’s implementation of rules requiring additional reporting by private fund advisers, including Form PF.
“During her tenure at the SEC, Tram was responsible for some of the most important rulemaking relating to private funds to come out of the SEC,” said Stuart H. Coleman, Stroock’s co-managing partner and Chairperson of the firm’s Investment Management practice. “Her insight into the current regulatory climate and experience in both private practice and government makes her a tremendous addition to our firm overall, and particularly to our expanding presence in Washington, DC.”
“I am pleased to join my new colleagues at Stroock, especially in this exciting time for the firm,” said Ms. Nguyen. “Stroock’s reputation in investment management and private funds is superb, and the opportunity to further establish its growing presence in Washington, DC was particularly attractive.”
Ms. Nguyen is the second leading SEC official to recently join the firm: Earlier this year Robert E. Plaze joined as a partner in the firm’s Investment Management practice. Mr. Plaze, a 30-year veteran of the SEC, was a Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management and notably responsible for money market, investment adviser and many of the Dodd Frank regulations affecting asset managers.
Before joining the SEC in 2010, Ms. Nguyen practiced for nearly 12 years with international law firms in Washington, DC and New York City. There, she focused on hedge funds and private equity funds, advising clients on fund-related issues including fund formation, structuring and compliance and private offering requirements, and she also advised financial institutions and investment advisers on requirements under the Investment Advisers Act. She developed expertise as a leading national expert on private fund regulation, which led the SEC to ask her to join its staff as an industry expert to help implement private fund provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Stroock’s Investment Management Practice Group represents over 800 mutual funds, closed-end funds, ETFs or business development companies (or their independent board members), as well as investment advisers, industry service providers and unregistered pooled investment vehicles. Combined, Stroock clients represent nearly $1.2 trillion in assets under management (over 8% of U.S. investment company assets).
Stroock’s Private Funds Practice focuses on the representation of sophisticated sponsors, distributors, investors and other market participants, with a particular emphasis on specialized products and funds at the cutting edge of the industry. Over the past 20 years, Stroock has been involved with virtually every type of private fund and is a particularly known for certain specialty funds, such as commodity, distressed debt, incubator/seed, infrastructure, life settlement, real estate and real assets funds.
Ms. Nguyen received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Princeton University; a Master of Arts degree from Harvard University; and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
