Legal and Compliance Teams Making it to the Start Line

Abstract

The first part of this article is coming together as I sit on an 11 hour flight to Buenos Aires, the first stop on my way to Antarctica to run a marathon, seriously. However, far more daunting than worrying about how to stay on my feet in the part of the marathon course that’s expected to be uphill and iced over, is the question of how to better prepare in-house legal and compliance teams for the demands placed on them, and to streamline day-to-day work. However, my worry about hills and ice is coming in at a close second to this question, largely because I have promised the deputy general counsel and general counsel that I will not incur any injury that prevents me from returning to work in time to get our Form ADV (a mandatory and publicly accessible SEC filing for registered investment advisors) submitted by deadline. Much like distance running in “the last great wilderness,” a core part of our day jobs is making every effort to project confidence about protecting against the unknown.