Reed Smith adds five members, led by Ed Klees and Brian Farmer to global corporate practice

Reed Smith adds five members, led by Ed Klees and Brian Farmer to global corporate practice

The Washington, D.C. and Richmond based Global Corporate Group of global law firm, Reed Smith welcomes partners, Edward Klees and Brian Farmer.

They have joined the company from Hirschler Fleischer with decades of combined expertise representing institutional investors, investment managers, and advisors. Guy Morley, Sheherezade ("Zee") Malik, and Aleks Johnson, attorneys, are joining Klees and Farmer.

The Global Corporate team and the firm place a high strategic value on recruiting talented individuals with backgrounds in corporate and securities. In addition to representing state pension plans and other institutional investors in private funds, creating private funds, and offering regulatory assistance, these highly regarded attorneys are a fantastic strategic fit, according to James Tandler, co-chair of the Reed Smith Global Corporate Group. We are thrilled to have them join our company and know they will instantly contribute to our burgeoning financial practice.

Klees provides guidance on regulatory oversight, risk management, operations, compliance, and ethics to a wide range of institutional investors, including endowments, foundations, pension plans, family offices, and outsourced chief investment offices (OCIOs). The investment management practice group at Hirschler was previously co-chaired by Klees and Farmer. Klees has also held positions as associate general counsel at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and general counsel of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO).

Klees frequently lectures and publishes about issues relating to institutional investment. He is a consultant for the Institutional Limited Partner Association and a past chair of the ABA's Institutional Investors Committee. He has lectured at the University Of Virginia School Of Law and co-taught a course on private equity and hedge funds with Nobel Laureate H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D. He has also written a book with Horvitz called Connecting with Companies: A Guide to Biomedical Consulting Agreements.

Klees stated, "We are thrilled to join the great worldwide team at Reed Smith." With our background in investment funds, we hope to bolster and improve upon current offerings.

Farmer is well-versed in the investing sector, having served both institutional clients and investment managers in the past. He has worked with universities, hospital systems, OCIOs, ERISA plans, and family offices. Farmer has also acted as a consultant for several colleges and university foundations in the process of separating their endowment funds and internal investment offices into their own charitable organizations.

Farmer is an accomplished author, having contributed to publications like Hedge Fund Law Reporter and Private Equity Law Reporter and being cited in news outlets like Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. He was a founder of Hirschler's investment management practice group and a former director of the company.

Farmer has also served as a member of the Richmond Retirement System's investment advisory committee and board of trustees, which oversees investments in the plan's $600 million portfolio spanning almost all asset classes.

Farmer expressed his excitement at joining Reed Smith's Investment Management and Private Funds team. For our customers, who often invest in intricate transactions around the world, Reed Smith's extensive corporate, tax, and securities law knowledge and global reach will be invaluable.