Noah Qiao

Noah Qiao is an investment funds partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. As a trusted advisor to private fund sponsors, Noah guides investment advisers through the legal and regulatory complexities of SEC registration, fundraising, investment structuring, strategic transactions, and SEC examinations and investigations. 

Standing at the forefront of the intersection of finance, emerging technology, and SEC regulations, Noah regularly advises on cutting-edge legal issues involving blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). His unique skillset and experience have made him a frequent speaker at prestigious professional conferences, including the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Summit, where he discussed the impact of generative pretrained transformers (GPT) in investment management and the potential for crypto staking emerging as an important institutional asset class. He was recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America in 2024.

Crypto venture capital and hedge funds frequently turn to Noah for his knowledge and experience in blockchain financial applications, encompassing areas such as asset tokenization, private tokenized secondaries, staking and restaking, crypto lending, custody, and unique blockchain disclosure issues under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and federal securities laws.

As the adoption of machine learning and AI accelerates in investment management, Noah also has experience counseling investment advisers on the design, training, and use of large language models, establishing robust AI policies and procedures, as well as navigating novel conflicts and disclosure issues arising from the use of AI. His solid grasp of the SEC regulatory priorities and distinct risks presented by these emerging technologies enables him to offer deep insights on thorny legal issues, as well as anticipate future regulatory trends.

Noah also serves as an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School, where he teaches upper-year courses on private fund and investment management regulations and blockchain regulatory issues.