Thompson Hine LLP is pleased to announce the expansion of its Investment Management practice with the addition of three experienced attorneys: Daniel A. Filstrup, Saher Hamideh, and Matthew Williams. This strategic growth underscores the firm’s commitment to providing clients with unparalleled legal counsel in the rapidly evolving investment management and regulatory landscape.
Filstrup joins from Latham & Watkins and is based in the firm’s Chicago office. He has extensive experience counseling private fund sponsors, including those focused on digital assets and cryptocurrency, on structuring, registration, cross-border asset management, and regulatory compliance. He has led clients through SEC examinations, constructed compliance programs for registered investment advisers, and advised on the use of artificial intelligence in investment management. Filstrup is fluent in written Chinese and spoken Mandarin.
Hamideh brings over two decades of investment management legal and compliance experience, most recently serving as of counsel in the Corporate Securities department at Geraci, LLP, a boutique firm based in Orange County, CA. Based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, Hamideh has held senior legal and compliance roles at Realty Mogul, Bel Air Investment Advisors, American Realty Advisors, Charles Schwab Investment Management, and SunAmerica, Inc. Her expertise spans SEC and FINRA compliance, private fund formation, regulatory filings, cybersecurity, and broker-dealer registration.
Williams joins the firm’s Washington, D.C., office from the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he was Branch Chief in the Division of Investment Management’s Disclosure Review and Accounting Office. In this role, Williams led a team of senior counsel and coordinated responses to novel legal issues raised during the disclosure review process with other Division offices and senior leadership. Prior to his work as a Branch Chief, Williams served as Counsel to the Director of the Division of Investment Management, helping to shape policy, coordinate rulemakings, and advise on legal strategy across the Division and the broader Commission. He also served as a Division of Investment Management point of contact on ESG-related issues. He has prior private practice experience at Perkins Coie LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP that includes counseling registered investment companies, private funds, fintech companies, and family offices on a broad range of investment management and securities law issues.
“We are thrilled to welcome Daniel, Saher and Matthew to Thompson Hine,” said JoAnn Strasser, chair of the firm’s Investment Management practice. “Their diverse backgrounds and deep experience in private funds, registered funds, and investment adviser matters will further strengthen our ability to serve clients across the investment management industry. This expansion reflects our ongoing commitment to providing innovative, practical, and business-focused legal solutions, and enhances our geographic reach.”
Thompson Hine’s Investment Management practice provides comprehensive structural, transactional, and regulatory advice to participants in the investment management industry across the nation and around the world. The firm’s clients include mutual funds, investment advisers, exchange-traded funds, broker-dealers, domestic and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds, fund service providers, and independent directors and trustees. The team assists clients in entering the industry, developing new products and services, expanding their businesses through strategic planning and acquisitions, staying current with regulatory and industry developments, and engaging with regulators. They counsel clients on issues arising under the Investment Company Act of 1940, Investment Advisers Act of 1940, broker-dealer provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Securities Act of 1933, FINRA regulations, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules.
The addition of these three new lawyers positions Thompson Hine’s Investment Management practice exceptionally well to provide enhanced advice on the full spectrum of regulatory, transactional, and compliance matters in today’s dynamic financial markets.