Andrew Wright, P.C.

Partner Investment Funds

New York +1 212 446 4793

Andrew Wright, P.C.

Overview

Andrew is a leading member of the corporate practice at Kirkland & Ellis and is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading attorneys in the field of private investment funds.

Andrew’s experience spans the entire range of investment funds activity, and includes more than 25 years’ experience counseling many of the industry’s largest and most prominent fund sponsors, as well as numerous boutique and middle-market managers, on critical aspects of their business.

"Andrew Wright is the best lawyer I’ve ever worked with. He is extremely efficient, proactive, responsive and knowledgeable. Above all he is always in a good mood, with a nice sense of humor and very nice to work with. He heads a great team of lawyers who always delivers very good quality work and meets the deadlines,” according to a client review in the 2021 edition of The Legal 500 United States, where he is ranked in its Hall of Fame.

Andrew has advised on hundreds of billions of dollars of private fund formations across a wide variety of strategies, including private equity, growth equity and leveraged buyout funds, funds focused on industry sectors such as technology, healthcare, consumer/retail, the financial sector and others, debt and credit funds, energy and infrastructure funds, emerging markets and other geographically-oriented funds, "hard asset" funds, co-investment funds, public equities and hedge funds, venture capital funds, feeder funds and fund-of-funds, and other private investment fund strategies.

As the investment funds market has matured and evolved, clients have routinely turned to Andrew to identify creative solutions and execute pioneering transactions such as: fund tender offers, general partner (GP)-led secondary sales, including both single-asset sales and “strip sales”, other cross-fund transactions, stapled secondaries, investment warehousing, cross-border fund restructurings and other complex fund-related transactions.

Andrew also assists GPs in fund operational matters, including investment structuring and fund-level credit facilities, as well as internal firm matters, such as devising, documenting and implementing internal management, compensation and succession planning arrangements, as well as employee co-investment vehicles and structures. Andrew also counsels fund managers on a wide range of regulatory compliance matters, including SEC compliance and examinations, as well as important investor relations and disclosure issues.

Throughout his career, Andrew has been involved as legal counsel in a wide range of complex, high-stakes private fund legal matters, including extraordinary events involving private investment funds and their sponsors, such as "key person" events, parent bankruptcies, investor defaults, strategic investments in a fund sponsor and minority stake sales, spin-outs, seed capital and anchor investor arrangements, regulatory investigations, crisis management issues and other significant matters and transactions.

Andrew is ranked as a leading investment funds lawyer by numerous publications, including Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500 U.S., IFLR1000, Who's Who Legal and the Guide to the World's Leading Investment Funds Lawyers.

In The Legal 500 U.S.'s Tier 1 ranking of Kirkland & Ellis LLP's private equity funds practice, Andrew is one of the few attorneys recognized in the Hall of Fame for being "at the pinnacle of the profession." He is called out as "one of the best fund formation attorneys out there" and is praised for "knowing the players, the industry, the issues and how to navigate them." The same publication has described Andrew as a "super-bright and thoughtful" attorney who was "singled out for his 'strategic vision, tremendous technical expertise and understanding of the commercial operations of investment funds, rather than just the legal theory.'"

Andrew "is a force to be reckoned with," an "outstanding fund formation lawyer," and is an "extraordinarily knowledgeable and responsive" attorney, who "stands out for his breadth of expertise," according to Chambers USA. Chambers USA's Band 1 ranking of Kirkland & Ellis LLP's fund formation practice says that "Andrew Wright earns sensational feedback from market sources: 'Andrew is extremely intelligent, very personable and takes the time to deliver the highest-quality work product.' One interviewee said: 'We're thrilled to have Andrew on our team and, quite frankly, we don't know what we would do without him.'" Clients describe Andrew as “brilliant” and “very intelligent and thoughtful in his advice.” He regularly works with major sponsors on forming growth equity and buyout funds.

In addition to the many fund sponsors he represents, Andrew's clients have also included institutional limited partners, sovereign wealth funds, investor advisory committees, senior investment professionals, U.S. and non-U.S. family offices, portfolio company executives, corporate affiliates / parents of private fund sponsors, market-leading placement agents and other constituents in the alternative investment space.

Andrew has represented both domestic and international sponsors of numerous types of alternative investment funds, including forming and providing on-going legal advice to sponsors of some of the largest and most complex private equity funds ever raised. Funds on which he has advised include private equity, growth equity and LBO funds, public equities and hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure funds, mezzanine and distressed debt funds, "hybrid" funds, and many other types of alternative investment vehicles. Numerous of these clients operated large-scale international investment management firms with multiple investment fund product lines and related businesses. Over the past decade, Andrew has worked with some of the largest and most prominent private fund sponsors, as well as a number of middle-market firms, on a broad range of matters relating to the formation and operation of private investment funds. Andrew's past experience in the investment management industry also includes serving as the general counsel of a billion dollar global investment management firm.

More

Thought Leadership

Publications 

Co-author, Private Equity Fundraising: State of the Market and Recent Trends in Terms, Practicing Law Institute, June 2018.

Co-author, New Rules Impact Private Fund Advisers Managing Chinese Insurance Capital, Kirkland Private Equity Newsletter, May 2018.

Co-author, How to Market Private Equity Funds on a Global Basis: Recent Trends in Terms, Practicing Law Institute, June 2016, updated June 2017.

Co-author, SEC Increases Focus on Transaction Fees and Other Broker-Dealer Issues for Private Fund Sponsors, Kirkland Private Equity Newsletter, April 2013.

Author, Eight Tips for Private Funds with Euro Exposure, Law360, December 2011.

Co-author, Insider Trading: Recent Developments, VC Experts, March 2010.

Co-author, Investment Funds in the United States in Practical Law Company's Investment Funds Handbook – February 2009. London: Practical Law Company Limited, February 2009.

Author, New Tax Law Restricts Hedge Fund Fee Deferral Arrangements, Hedge Fund Law Report, October 2008.

Author, Riding in the Side Car: Committed Co-Investment Structures: Key Considerations for Private Equity Fund Sponsors. The Daily Deal, June 2008.

Co-author, Investment Funds in the United States in Practical Law Company's Investment Funds Handbook – February 2008. London: Practical Law Company Limited, February 2008.

Co-author, Fund Formation – United States in Getting the Deal Through – Private Equity 2005.  London: Law Business Research Limited, 2005.

Andrew has also been quoted in numerous leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters News, Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst, Buyouts, Private Equity News, Private Equity International, The Hedge Fund Law Report, Bloomberg News and others.

Seminars

Andrew speaks frequently on matters relating to private investment funds. Select recent public speaking engagements include:

  • Guest Lecturer, Harvard Law School class on Investment Management Law, September 2023
  • Speaker, Alternative Family Capital Network Conference, April 2023
  • Guest Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Seminar on Private Equity, February 2023
  • Guest Lecturer, University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law, October 2021
  • Guest Lecturer, Harvard Law School class on Investment Management Law, September 2021
  • Guest Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School seminar on Private Equity Fund Formation, January 2021
  • Guest Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School seminar on Transactions Involving Private Equity Funds, February 2020
  • Speaker, MLA Alternative Asset General Counsel event, October 2019
  • Guest Lecturer, Harvard Law School class on Investment Management Law, September 2019
  • Panelist, SuperReturn US East, June 2018.
  • Guest Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Law School class on Developing Private Equity Skills, January 2018.
  • Guest Lecturer, Harvard Law School class on Investment Management Law, September 2017.
  • Panelist, 23rd Annual VCPE Conference at Harvard Business School, January 2017.
  • Guest Lecturer, Harvard Law School class on Investment Management Law, September 2016.
  • Speaker, Practising Law Institute Seventeenth Annual Private Equity Forum Conference, June 2016.
  • Panelist, 21st Annual Columbia Business School Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference, March 2015.
  • Speaker, IBA 15th Annual International Conference on Private Investment Funds, March 2014.
  • Speaker, Annual Conference of the International Bar Association, October 2013.
  • Speaker, IBA/ABA 13th Annual Conference on Private Investment Funds, March 2012.
  • Speaker, NY Private Equity Network 2011 Legal Series "Private Equity GP/LP Fund Terms," June 2011.
  • Speaker, 16th Annual Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference at Harvard Business School, February 2010.
  • Speaker, CFA Society of Washington and Wharton Private Equity Partners LP/GP Roundtable, October 2009.
  • Speaker, Practicing Law Institute seminar “Pay to Play”: Implications for Investment Advisers and Placement Agents, September 2009.
  • Speaker, 15th Annual Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference at Harvard Business School, January 2009.
  • Speaker, Yale University School of Management Private Equity Conference, November 2008.
  • Speaker, The 2nd Israeli Private Equity and Venture Capital Summit, November 2008.
  • Speaker, 10th Annual Effective Hedge Fund Tax Practices Conference, November 2008.
  • Speaker, JP Morgan Hedge Fund Legislative Roundtable, July 2008.
  • Speaker, Financial Research Associates LLC's Hedge Fund Tax, Accounting and Administration Master Class, May 2008.
  • Speaker, ACA Spring 2008 Compliance Conference, March 2008.
  • Speaker, Maples Investment Funds Forum, February 2008.
  • Speaker, Institutional Investor/MARHedge Hedge Fund Best Practices Conference, November 2007.

Recognition

Hall of Fame in The Legal 500, 2020–2023

Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2013–2023

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2012–2024

The Legal 500 U.S., 2011–2024

Best of the Best USA: The World's Finest Lawyers Chosen by Their Peers, Expert Guides, 2013–2015, 2017

"Guide to the World's Leading Investment Funds Lawyers," Legal Media Group, 2010

The International Who's Who of Private Funds Lawyers

The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers

Who's Who Legal: Private Funds, 2015–2021

Who's Who Legal 100, 2012

IFLR1000 Listed “Market Leader”

Best Lawyers Magazine, 2020, 2022

Memberships & Affiliations

Member, New York State Bar

Member, Private Investment Funds Forum

Member, Committee on Private Investment Funds of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York

Founding Member, New York Investment Funds Society

Member, Graduate Advisory Council of The Harvard Crimson

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • New York

Education

  • University of Chicago Law SchoolJ.D.1999
    Comment Editor, The University of Chicago Legal Forum
  • Harvard UniversityA.B., History and Literaturemagna cum laude1996