Art Delibert is a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office and practices in the field of investment management law, representing and advising U.S. registered investment companies, investment company trustees, and investment advisers. Investment company clients have included open-end funds (including single-tier and master-feeder funds) and closed-end funds. He and his team have been involved in structuring, registering, and launching a large number of new funds, including some of the earliest “alternative” funds. These include funds using multiple, unaffiliated sub-advisers, a commodities fund using a Cayman subsidiary, funds whose strategies are largely based in derivatives, international and emerging market funds, and insurance product funds.
With an undergraduate degree in engineering, Art takes a problem-solving approach to the practice of law. He has structured fund mergers and reorganizations using creative techniques that minimized the cost to clients. He was also intimately involved in structuring and defending the first use of a “poison pill” by a registered closed-end fund threatened with a hostile takeover, successfully defending the technique against a federal court challenge by the corporate raider and persuading the SEC staff to allow the matter to play out in court.
In representing independent fund trustees, Art pays close attention to the dynamic between the Board and management, the continuity of the Board’s focus from one meeting to the next, recent court and SEC proceedings, and the potential conflicts of interest that can affect the fund business. He also focuses on the nature and clarity of the materials that boards receive, making sure the information is presented in a way that helps busy people understand what decisions they are called upon to make and why, and that they can readily focus on the important facts.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. (1978 -1982). Art served as legal assistant to Commissioner Barbara Thomas, where he was responsible for advising the Commissioner on a wide range of proposed Commission actions, preparing speeches and articles, and operating the office in the Commissioner’s absence. Prior to that, he was a staff attorney in the SEC’s Office of General Counsel, appearing frequently before the Commission to advise on the legal strengths and weaknesses of cases and settlements proposed by the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
