Leading Financial Regulatory Lawyer Anna Maleva-Otto Joins London Office of Schulte Roth & Zabel

SRZ is pleased to announce the addition of Anna Maleva-Otto as a partner in the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group. Resident in the firm’s London office, she joins a team of senior lawyers that is one of the largest and most experienced groups of hedge fund lawyers in the UK. Ms. Maleva-Otto comes to SRZ from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and she previously served as an in-house counsel and compliance officer of a hedge fund.

SRZ’s UK practice continues to experience tremendous growth and, earlier this year, moved to a new, larger space at Crown Estate’s One Eagle Place. Ms. Maleva-Otto is the second partner to join the investment management practice this year, following the appointment of leading hedge fund lawyer Steven Whittaker as an investment management partner in February 2014. Prominent business reorganisation partners, Peter J.M. Declercq and Sonya Van de Graaff, who advise funds investing in the distressed space, joined the firm in 2013.

Admitted in both the UK and US, Ms. Maleva-Otto’s practice will focus on advising fund managers on regulatory and compliance matters, including the implications of the AIFMD, MiFID and EMIR. “We are excited to have Anna join the firm. She is a leading lawyer who strengthens our transatlantic regulatory capabilities,” said Christopher Hilditch, head of the London practice, who advises a wide range of institutional and entrepreneurial managers on structuring and establishing investment funds.

“Anna is recognised for her regulatory expertise and market knowledge. She will be a wonderful addition to our team, which advises on the latest regulatory developments impacting the alternative investment industry,” commented Marc E. Elovitz, chair of the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group. Ms. Maleva-Otto will work closely with Mr. Elovitz and the regulatory and compliance team to provide coordinated and integrated transatlantic advice focussed on the buy side.

SRZ’s investment management group consists of 25 partners plus 60 other investment management and compliance lawyers; all focussed exclusively on representing funds and their managers. The group provides advice on both UK and US law to a wide variety of funds and managers located in the UK, US, Continental Europe, The Middle East, Southern Africa, Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan) and Australia. The lawyers create, structure and advise on all types of funds, as well as with regulatory and compliance issues, tax matters, litigation and transactions.

“Anna’s regulatory advice will be a critical component in our representation of fund managers, as government oversight continues to grow with the implementation of key reforms,” commented Alan S. Waldenberg, chair of the firm’s Executive Committee and chair of the Tax Group. SRZ is the only leading law firm with a top-tier hedge fund practice in both the US and Europe. The firm represents over half of the world’s 100 largest hedge funds and more than 3,000 investment funds globally.

“Schulte Roth & Zabel has a well-deserved reputation as a premier law firm for private investment funds, not least for its regulatory and compliance expertise. I am delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside some of the most knowledgeable hedge fund lawyers in the industry,” said Ms. Maleva-Otto, who received her J.D. from Emory University School of Law and her M.A. from the University of St. Petersburg.