Mr. Frolik has been a partner in the Firm’s Investment Funds & Advisers Group since 2007. Since he joined the firm in 2000 out of law school, he has specialized in representing investment advisers (including advisers to hedge funds, real estate/VC/private equity funds, other private investment funds and separately-managed accounts).  The Firm’s investment management practice group has a national reputation and includes five other partners (Jahan Raissi, Neil Koren, Christina Hamilton, David Suozzi and Anthony Caldwell) and a number of other attorneys.  The entire group is located in our San Francisco office and most of us have worked together for decades.  This cohesiveness helps us deliver services to clients efficiently and with minimal turnover.

He is regularly listed in the International Who’s Who of Private Funds Lawyers, which features only the foremost practitioners.

Mr. Frolik counsels clients on a wide variety of issues including:

  • Structuring domestic and offshore investment funds (including hedge funds, real estate/VC/private equity funds, marketplace lending funds, crossover public/private funds and special opportunity funds)
  • Organizing investment management firms, including preparing and negotiating operating agreements among the owners of those companies
  • Counseling investment advisers on federal and state regulatory issues (including SEC, CFTC, and state registration and ERISA) and advising them on all aspects of their ongoing operations
  • Preparing and negotiating employment and severance agreements for a firm’s executive officers, portfolio managers, analysts, traders and other employees
  • Preparing and negotiating investment management agreements for separately-managed accounts
  • Preparing compliance manuals
  • Negotiating fund administration agreements

Representative Clients (primary counsel):

  • $10B+ long/short global TMT investment manager with hedge funds, hybrid public/private funds and venture funds
  • Multi-billion AUM tail risk investment manager with over 20 funds
  • $3B+ long/short biotech investment manager with hybrid public/private funds (side pockets) and venture funds
  • $2B investment manager focused on equity and credit investments (hedge fund with side pockets and closed-end funds)
  • $1B investment manager focused on distressed investments and special situations (hedge fund, SMAs and closed-end fund)
  • $1B investment manager focused on credit and special situations (hedge fund)
  • $1B investment manager focusing on impact loans to small businesses in the US and emerging markets (open-ended funds)
  • $1B investment manager focused on real estate credit funds (open-end) and SFR real estate funds (closed-end)
  • $200M venture capital manager focused on early-stage venture investments (8 funds to date)
  • $300M venture capital manager focused on technology and healthcare investments (3 funds to date)
  • $300M long-biased healthcare-focused investment manager (hedge fund)
  • $30M venture capital manager focused on AI venture investment
  • Numerous other SEC-registered (over $150M AUM) and exempt managers (both start-up managers and other managers) to long/short and long-biased hedge funds, venture funds and other alternative funds

Co-author of U.S. Regulation of Hedge Funds (first published by the American Bar Association in 2005 with a second edition published in 2013)

Conference speaking engagements include:

  • JPMorgan Hedge Fund CFO Roundtable – San Francisco, CA – April 2024
  • KPMG Alternative Investment Symposium – San Francisco, CA – September 2019
  • ACA Compliance Conference (Hedge Fund Session) – San Diego, CA – October 2017
  • Abacus/Imagineer Operational Efficiency & Compliance Seminar – San Francisco, CA  – December 2016
  • American Bar Association/International Bar Association Private Fund Conference – London 2016
  • UBS Premier Client Conference – Scottsdale 2015
  • First Republic Bank COO Forum – San Francisco 2015
  • Financial Research Associates Private Investment Fund Accounting, Operations and Compliance Forum – San Francisco 2015

Jim is on the Board of Directors of the Excellence in Investing for Children’s Causes Foundation (EICCF), the West Coast affiliate of the Sohn Conference Foundation.  Through its annual SohnSF investment conference, EICCF raises funds to support nonprofit organizations that improve education opportunities and life outcomes for underserved youth in the SF Bay Area and increases awareness in the financial community of the many nonprofits doing this important work in the Bay Area.

Member of the organizing committee of the Bay Area Hedge Fund Roundtable, a group that facilitates communication, education and networking among the Bay Area alternative investment community.

Active member of the Public Policy Committee of the California Hedge Fund Association, a statewide organization that brings together members of the investment  fund community to influence public policy that affects investment managers.

Speaker at various conferences and contributor to other books and articles regarding current issues facing investment advisers and private investment funds.