Kirkland & Ellis Lures Ex-Federal Investment Regulator

The former director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s division of investment management will join Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s New York office as a partner in its private funds practice group, the firm said Wednesday.

Norm Champ spent the past five years with the SEC and, in addition to his time with the federal government, will bring to Kirkland on Feb. 1 nearly a decade of experience as inside counsel for global investment management firm Chilton Investment Co. He also spent about a decade in private practice at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, the firm said.

“Norm will be a fantastic addition to our strong private funds group,” group leader John R. O’Neil said. “We are thrilled that our many private equity sponsor clients will have access to his experience and cutting-edge insights.”

As director of the SEC’s investment management division, Champ played a key role in the agency’s landmark 2014 reforms strengthening the $3 trillion money market fund industry and led other significant structural and policy changes, Kirkland said.

The attorney was also a lecturer on investment management law at Harvard Law School in 2015 and has become an outspoken critic of federal financial regulators and monetary policy since he left the SEC last year.

According to Kirkland, Champ is currently writing a book about his experiences at the SEC.

Before becoming the regulatory agency’s director of investment management, he was the deputy director of its examination office, which carries out examinations of investment managers, broker-dealers, national securities exchanges and other market participants.

In addition to nearly a decade each at Chilton Investment and Davis Polk, Champ spent his first few years out of law school clerking for the U.S. District Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. in New York.

“Norm has broad and deep experience in today’s extraordinarily complex and high-stakes regulatory environment for investment firms, and he will be a tremendous resource for our clients,” Jeffrey C. Hammes, chairman of Kirkland’s global management executive committee, said in a Wednesday statement.

Boasting more than 500 followers on his personal Twitter account, Champ often tweets about policy. Examples include, “Seven years of zero rates and money printing failed. Let’s do more,” “I worry that bond declines are being worsened by government limits on bank trading in US and Europe,” and “Current #junkbonds decline natural result of Fed policies on rates and capital tests.”

According to the firm, more than 100 attorneys at Kirkland's offices across the globe focus on private funds.