Rick is the co-leader of the Fund Formation and Investment Management practice group at McGuireWoods and is a fund formation lawyer with over 25 years of experience representing investment managers in the establishment of private funds and related products and representing institutional investors with respect to alternative investments. Rick’s practice has a particular focus on emerging managers, and he co-chairs the firm’s Emerging Manager Program, which was built to differentiate McGuireWoods as the preeminent law firm for emerging private investment fund managers and fuels the emerging manager landscape through its commitment to providing best-in-class service to emerging managers while building community across the landscape.
Rick’s experience spans the spectrum of private funds and other alternative investments and related transactions, including the formation of and representing investors in buyout, venture capital, secondary, hedge, hybrid, real estate, and funds of funds, as well as SMAs, funds of one, secondary transactions, co-investments, investment vehicles for independent sponsors, and other customized transactions. He also frequently represents real estate developers and other businesses in capital-raising and related activities. Rick’s vast investor-side experience helps bring to bear an intimate knowledge of market terms, investor concerns, and different ways to document funds and transactions that provides unique added value both to fund sponsor clients and to investor clients.
Rick’s work in the fund formation area also includes advising clients with respect to registration under and compliance with the Investment Advisers Act and similar state laws, along with other regulatory and compliance matters such as compliance with the Investment Company Act, the Securities Act of 1933 and other federal and state securities laws. He also works with clients on internal governance and structural issues unique to the private investment industry.
Rick has also represented clients in other investment and corporate transactions, and, as an extension of his transactional work, he has often advised clients on business formations, significant commercial contracts and other general legal matters.
- Represented an investment manager in the organization and offering of interests in two successive funds formed to invest in independent sponsor-led transactions, with aggregate commitments in excess of $335 million.
- Represented a middle-market buyout fund manager in the raising of their Fund VI with $1.35 billion in investor commitments.
- Represented a lower middle-market buyout firm in the organization and offering of interests in its inaugural commingled fund, with commitments of $155 million.
- Represented an investment management team in its spinout from an established software investment firm and the organization and offering of interests in its inaugural fund as an independent manager, with commitments of $240 million.
- Represented a search fund manager in the organization and offering of interests in successive single-asset funds with aggregate commitments of ~$150 million.
- Represented a healthcare investment manager in the organization and offering of interests in its first and second commingled funds, with aggregate commitments in excess of $325 million.
- Represented a real estate firm in connection with the recapitalization of two portfolios of commercial office and industrial properties and the offering of more than $100 million in equity interests therein and in various other capital raises.**
- Represented a captive buyout fund manager in its spinout from a leading financial institution and its subsequent raising of funds with over $3 billion in investor commitments.*
- Represented an investment manager in the raising of equity for three transactions as an independent sponsor and then in the formation of its first middle-market buyout fund, with over $200 million in investor commitments.*
- Represented a venture capital firm in the establishment of its first fund, with target capital commitments of $50 million.*
- Represented a fund of funds manager in the formation of a series of U.S.-focused funds of funds, a series of European-focused funds of funds, and various separately managed accounts and co-investment vehicles, with aggregate investor commitments of more than $2 billion.*
- Represented an investment manager in the formation of a secondary fund of funds comprising interests in 26 buyout funds with aggregate investor commitments exceeding $700 million.*
- Represented a fund sponsor in the formation of a hybrid fund with aggregate commitments of $270 million, focusing on both publicly traded securities and investments in private companies, and the subsequent conversion of that fund to a hedge fund.*
- Helped organize a new company to establish a private resort and represented the business in associated capital raises of $210 million.*
- Represented institutional investors in hundreds of commingled private equity, venture capital, real estate, hedge, and other fund investments, as well as in the establishment of managed accounts and managed account platforms and in co-investment, secondary and other transactions.**
- Represented several clients with their registration as investment advisers, including the preparation and filing of Form ADV; the drafting of compliance manuals, codes of ethics, and other materials; and working with regulators on compliance issues.**
*Experience handled prior to joining McGuireWoods.
**Includes experience both before and after joining McGuireWoods.
Events
- Moderator, "Is There a “New Normal” in Fundraising? How to Adapt to an Evolving LP Landscape," 2025 Emerging Manager Conference, April 29-30, 2025
- Moderator, "Considerations and Best Practices for Deal-by-Deal as a Pre-fund Strategy," 2024 Independent Sponsor Conference, October 15-16, 2024
- Moderator, "Elevating Your Pitch to LP’s: Crafting a Story That Resonates," Emerging Manager Conference, Dallas, TX, April 16-17, 2024
- Moderator, "Raising a Committed Fund: Considerations and Alternatives," 2023 Independent Sponsor Conference, October 4, 2023
Insights
- Author, From Scrutiny to Success: Insights From McGuireWoods’ Emerging Manager Conference, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, June 4, 2025
- Author, SEC Updates Marketing Rule FAQs to Provide Additional Performance Presentation Flexibility, McGuireWoods Legal Alert, April 3, 2025
- Author, "Developments in the Regulation of Fund Managers in North Carolina," Notes Bearing Interest, the newsletter of the Business Law Section of the NCBA February 1, 2014
- Author, "Dodd-Frank Act Changes The Rules For Many Investment Fund Managers," Business North Carolina, Law Journal May 2011
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- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, Venture Capital, 2009-2026; Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, 2024, 2025, 2026
- Named a “North Carolina Rising Star,” Business/Corporate, North Carolina Super Lawyers, 2009-2011
- Named to “Charlotte’s Forty under 40,” Charlotte Business Journal, 2009