Seward & Kissel

Seward & Kissel is an American law firm with offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. that was founded in 1890. Its primary expertise is in the financial services industry. The firm's clientele includes major commercial banks, investment funds, institutional investors, and shipping and transport companies.^[1][2] Noted for its “substantial hedge-fund practice,” it has been described as “the leading law firm to the [hedge fund] industry.”^[3]

The firm maintains three blogs: The Broker Dealings, which covers “legal, regulatory, and compliance issues related to broker-dealers and capital markets”; the '40 Act Blog keeps up with “legal developments related to investment advisers, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds”; and the Business Transactions Group IM Deals reports on “investment management industry transactions.”^[4]

As of September 29, 2015, the firm had 160 lawyers in New York and Washington.^[5][6]

History

Seward & Kissel began as Smith & Martin and has been headquartered in downtown New York City since its founding. In 1949, the firm advised in the formation of the first hedge fund. It opened its Washington office in 1977 and its transportation and shipping practice in 1992.^[5]

The firm “has remained independent since its founding in 1890, a rarity for a midsize law firm these days,” noted one financial website in 2015.^[7]

Seward & Kissel takes the first half of its name from George Seward, who became a partner at Meyer, Kidder, Matz & Kissel, one the previous iterations of the firm, in 1953. He remained an active partner until 1983 and continued working at the firm until 2011. He held many leadership positions at the American Bar Association, founded the business law section of the International Bar Association, and was the honorary life president of the International Bar Association. He died in 2012 at the age of 101.^[8]

In September 2015, the firm celebrated its 125th anniversary by burying a time capsule outside its Battery Park offices. The plan is for the capsule to be recovered 125 years later. Managing Partner John Tavss expressed the hope “that Seward & Kissel will still be thriving in the year 2140, when this time capsule is to be opened.” Among the items placed in the time capsule were a BlackBerry, a business card, a Zagat guide, and a New York subway map.^[5]

Partners

John Ashmead is Chair of Seward & Kissel’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group.^[9] He is a Fellow of the American College of Investment Counsel and has been recognized as a leader in his field by New York Super Lawyers (2010-2015) and as a Rising Star by Institutional Investor (2008).^[10]

Bruce G. Paulsen, a member of Seward & Kissel’s Litigation Group, has been a partner since 2002.^[11][12] Chambers USA called him a “very strong advocate” in 2016. A member of the Committees on Commercial Litigation and Business Litigation of the American Bar Association, the Litigation Committee of the International Bar Association, and the Maritime Law Association, he was named one of the world's top 500 lawyers by InterContinental Finance Magazine in 2014 and New York lawyer of the year for 2014 in transport finance by Corporate LiveWire. Avvo.com rated him “superb” (9.8 out of 10.0).^[13]

Greg B. Cioffi is the co-head of the firm's Corporate Finance Group.^[14]

Its managing partner is John Tavss. Other partners include Steve Nadel, Mark Kotwick,^[15] Meir Grossman,^[16] and Scott Sambur.^[17] Ivy Wafford Duke is Counsel in the Investment Management Practice Group based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.^[18]

Ratings

In its 2013 online poll of hedge fund managers and investors, website Hedge Funds Review said Seward & Kissel received the most votes in the UK and non-UK Service Provider category for law firms.^[19]

In 2017, users of US job-seeker website Vault ranked Seward & Kissel at #2 in the category “Best Law Firms for Hours,” #7 in “Best Law Firms for Firm Culture,” and #8 in “Best Law Firms for Associate/Partner Relations.”^[20]

Chambers has called Seward & Kissel a “small but gold-laden galleon” that has spent 125 years “successfully navigating the legal industry's sometimes stormy seas.” Although “one of the smaller ships in the BigLaw armada,” the firm can “ignite some powerful broadside” in the fields of maritime finance and hedge funds, according to Chambers.

Chambers quoted one associate at the firm saying “I make the same money as associates at Skadden or Kirkland & Ellis, but the hours are far more favorable.” Another commented: “So many people at law school were desperate to be at a top 20 firm to satisfy their competitive streaks. I like to go home!” Junior lawyers also find the Battery Park Plaza location “[f]ar less stressful than being in the heart of Midtown and surrounded by skyscrapers” and praise the “jaw-dropping views onto the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty.” Attorneys at the Washington office are “less formally dressed than New York” but offer the same “support and resources you'd expect from a New York BigLaw firm.”^[21]

Studies, reports, and seminars

Seward & Kissel conducts an annual New Hedge Fund Study in which it examines newly formed U.S. hedge funds.^[22][23]

In May 2016, Seward & Kissel issued a client alert pertaining to the impact on investment managers of the U.S. Department of Labor's re-definition of an “advice fiduciary.”^[24]

In partnership with the Republic of the Marshall Islands Registry, Seward and Kissel hosted the “Ship Finance and Maritime Operations Seminar” in Athens in February 2016.^[25]

Pro bono work

Rebecca E. Algie, an associate of Seward & Kissel, has been recognized for her “outstanding pro bono work” on cases referred to her by her Justice. “Litigated cases, especially litigated divorces, always present a challenge in recruiting pro bono attorneys, yet Ms. Algie continues to rise to the challenge, not daunted by challenging material facts or the potential of prolonged time commitment.”^[26]

Lawsuits

On February 27, 2012, ruling in favor of a group of plaintiffs represented by Seward and Kissel, the Delaware Court of Chancery enjoined the sale of BankAtlantic by BankAtlantic Bancorp (BBX) to Branch Bank & Trust, agreeing that the sale would violate the contractual rights of holders of BBX trust securities. “This decision is significant,” stated one report, “because it sends a message to all Banks with trust preferred securities (TruPS) that they cannot infringe on the rights of the TruPS holders when trying to restructure.”^[27]

In May 2016, Gray Financial Group sued Seward & Kissel in a Georgia federal court for $12 million. Gray charged the firm with malpractice, saying that it had been negligent in advising Gray to sell funds to a state pension, thus rendering Gray “vulnerable to federal investigations.” In response, Seward & Kissel called the allegations “meritless and sanctionable.”^[28][29]

J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge

In 2014, two Seward & Kissel lawyers, Denise Mazzeo and Dave Knowles, won the women's and men's races respectively in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.^[30][31]

References

External links

• Official website