On October 31, 2016, The Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) hosted Benson Cohen, partner at the New York office of Sidley Austin, to discuss his law practice. Mr. Cohen is a ’04 Boalt alumnus, serving on the Boalt Hall Alumni Association’s board of directors. He is also the current chair of the nominating committee for the New York City Bar Association’s “Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award.” In addition to many other awards, his practice team at Sidley Austin has been awarded first-tier national rankings by the US News—Best Lawyers for Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law and Derivatives and Futures Law.
Mr. Cohen represents investment advisors, broker-dealers, and banks within corporate law, focusing on M&A, securities and regulatory matters, including the registration and offering of private funds.
Starting his career in New York in corporate law, he had no background in the business world, but while at Sidley as a summer associate, he was attracted to the “funds base” because it tends to be steady despite market volatility.
Mr. Cohen’s practice involves helping clients set up the investment advisory or management companies where operating aspects of a business are held, and creating feeder funds. In addition, he has built a practice working for clients such as Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. These and other banks sell interests in hedge funds or private equity funds. Many hedge funds are open-end funds, investing on a continuing basis and allowing clients take money out at any time. With private equity funds, however, clients commit their investment for longer time periods and receive most returns at the end of the investment lifecycle.
He credits luck and hard work for his successful journey, beginning with his earliest experiences working on a due-diligence team. While a first-year associate, he worked on an exceptional deal that involved a substantial private equity investment. Later, a change in how advisors were regulated caused Merrill Lynch to become a bank holding company, which offered an opportunity to learn a novel area of the law. Since it wasn’t a widespread practice area at the time, he was able to learn while partners were also learning, and took the opportunity to become an expert in that area.
After studying law in the Bay Area but working on the East coast, Mr. Cohen stated the most notable difference in funds between San Francisco and New York is that in San Francisco, Sidley Austin focuses on sponsors of funds. In contrast, in New York, Sidley represents bigger banks.
His recommendations for current law students include preparing for general corporate practice by picking up the jargon and concepts, and remaining flexible by studying many different corporate subjects. He advises staying on top of new laws being proposed and implemented to have context when starting work at a firm.
Practitioner-Speaker-Series-Benson-Cohen-Sidley-Austin (PDF)