Tell us about your career highlights to date?
I am a partner in the New York office. I head our private investment funds practice in the US. We represent fund managers and institutional investors in the full range of their business activities, with a particular focus on fund formation. We’ve formed funds that have as little as USD $20 million in capital, and funds that have raised well in excess of USD $1billion, in every strategy imaginable. Some of the funds are typical private credit, private equity, real estate and venture capital funds, but other funds have done everything from investing in water rights, real assets such as agricultural land, renewable energy, gold, trade finance, insurance risk, movie productions, and pretty much every other imaginable asset.
Having started my legal career as a disputes lawyer, I transitioned to representing investment funds in 1998. From 2001 to 2005, I was the chief legal officer for a US hedge fund manager whose assets under management grew from $1.8 billion to over $5 billion during my tenure. That experience sharpened my focus on providing actionable advice that furthered a client’s business goals while minimizing risk. I returned to private practice in 2005 as a partner at energy-focused international law firm with Texas roots, and, after being a partner at other international firms, joined Kramer Levin in January 2023.
Some career highlights:
Shortly after my return to private practice, I led a legal team working on the launch of the first investment vehicle that allowed ordinary US investors to participate in investment returns from carbon markets. Launching the vehicle required the grant of innovative regulatory relief from two US regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Trading Futures Commission. It also required the creation by the New York Stock Exchange of a new rule permitting the admission of the vehicle to trading.
As someone who grew up in Zambia, Africa-related work is particularly satisfying to me. For instance, over the last ten years, I have represented a venture capital fund sponsor on the launch of several funds focusing on seed state and pre-seed stage venture capital investments in mobile payments and other “banking for the unbanked” businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. I’ve also worked on funds financing solar energy and other infrastructure projects in Africa.
Recently, a big part of my practice has been what are called “non-concessionary impact funds.” These are funds that achieve a social or environmental goal while providing investors with market-rate returns. One such fund, which had its first closing last week, provides financing to transition businesses with large low-wage workforces to employee ownership.
What are you most excited about for the next 6 months of 2025 / what are your goals in the coming months?
The merger of Kramer Levin with Herbert Smith Freehills, and the resulting new opportunities for all of us, have me very excited for the rest of 2025 and beyond. Just in the first few weeks wince the merger, our US funds practice has collaborated with the Belfast, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Sydney offices. The platform is an amazing one, the culture of collaboration is wonderful, and I am confident that we will do great things together. For 2025, I would like to see how we can add value for institutional investors and fund managers interested in the United States, and how we can introduce our existing clients to the broad range of capabilities the firm has to offer.
Talk to us about your up bringing in Zambia and how that experience has influenced how you advise clients?
Though I was born in Kolkata, India, my childhood was spent in Dar es Salaam, for two years, and then in Lusaka for the rest of the decade of the 1970s. Zambia was a terrific place to grow up, and, while the country had many, many challenges, I would not trade my childhood for anything.
Two things I wish more Americans understood is that Zambia has had more uncontroversial handovers of power after free elections in this century than the US has had, and that Lusaka, despite all its challenges, is a vibrant, thriving and delightful place to live and visit.
One thing I’ve taken away from my Zambian experience is (with apologies to Ted Lasso) to be curious, not judgmental. Another is the conviction that to drive real progress, it is vital to engage with the tools of capitalism and markets to build resilient and robust systems that will thrive long after you are gone. I apply this to all parts of my legal practice, not least to the impact fund work we do.
What is the best and most honest advice ever given to you?
Many wise people have given me advice that is, in essence, the Oscar Wilde line that you should “be yourself, because everyone else is taken.” To succeed, you have to play to your strengths, be aware of and manage your weaknesses, and be comfortable in your own skin.
Who are your dream dinner guests and why?
My grandparents. I never met my maternal grandfather, who died tragically young, and have so many things I’d like to ask him about. I spent a lot of time with my three other grandparents, but wish I had taken on board more of their hard-won wisdom.