Alston & Bird has grown its Investment Funds Group by adding high-profile investment funds partner Heather Wyckoff to the firm’s New York office.
"We are thrilled to welcome Heather, who we have known and admired for many years as a highly regarded practitioner in the investment funds space,” said Tim Selby, Alston & Bird partner and head of the investment funds practice. “As we continue to grow our already-deep investment funds bench, Heather brings an impressive skill set that adds further breadth to our practice and enhances our ability to innovate new product solutions for our clients.”
Prior to joining Alston & Bird, Heather was a partner in the investment management group at Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP, where she served on several of the firm’s key committees. Heather is a trusted adviser to some of the world’s largest asset managers, and is adept at forming funds with bespoke, complex structures for marketing globally and investing in any manner of asset classes. She has been recognized for her innovative evergreen funds practice, forming crossover funds, open-end credit funds and open-end real estate and other real asset funds.
Heather also regularly advises investment managers regarding seed deals and other strategic transactions, the formation of co-investment vehicles, funds of one, and managed accounts, as well as operational and SEC and CFTC regulatory matters.
Heather has received numerous industry awards, including being named one of Crain’s New York Business’ Notable Women in Law in 2023, and one of Hedge Fund Journal’s 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds in 2022. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, regularly contributes to various publications, and is a global board member of 100 Women in Finance.
Heather said, “As the funds industry continues to consolidate and expand into new asset classes, the fund formation game has changed. Alston’s platform includes its expert and creative fund formation team spanning private funds and retail products including BDCs, interval funds and REITs, as well as deep regulatory, financial services and tax benches. It also offers significant transactional capabilities for all types of private equity, private credit, and real estate transactions. Together, these practices are the new table stakes to provide a full suite of services to fund managers.”
Alston & Bird’s Investment Funds Group lawyers serve a broad array of sophisticated clients across the asset management and financial services industries, including institutional investment managers of private funds and registered investment companies, banks, broker-dealers and other financial institutions. The strength of its Investment Funds practice expertise is bolstered by many other key practices, including its robust corporate, tax, private credit, structured finance, real estate and financial services teams.