Brendan C Hanifin

Practice Areas

Brendan Hanifin advises asset managers and institutional investors on the regulatory and national security aspects of complex transactions. He combines deep fluency in private investment structures with uncommon regulatory experience and market insight to deliver clear, practical counsel that keeps transactions moving toward close. Clients value his responsiveness, commercial judgment, and ability to tailor guidance to the strategic context of each transaction.

Brendan’s practice spans U.S. foreign investment controls—including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Outbound Investment Security Program (OISP)—anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, export control, and anti-corruption matters. He regularly guides clients through CFIUS reviews—including non‑notified transactions and the negotiation of mitigation agreements—and provides end‑to‑end CFIUS advice throughout the investment lifecycle. He also advises U.S. investors and investee companies on outbound investment deal screening and notification obligations.

Brendan advises across the full spectrum of private capital transactions and investment structures—including control buyouts, secondary transactions, continuation vehicles, co‑investments, preferred and convertible instruments, and venture rounds. His familiarity with how these structures interact with CFIUS, OISP, sanctions, and other national security regimes helps him identify issues early and align investor and sponsor interests.

Private equity sponsors regularly call upon Brendan to help navigate their most complex transactions. In this capacity, Brendan has evaluated hundreds of international risk compliance programs across industries and understands that right‑sized compliance controls are foundational to effective and scalable operations. In addition, having practiced for over a decade alongside a leading asset management practice, he has particular experience helping U.S. investment advisers build and enhance risk‑based anti‑money laundering and sanctions frameworks calibrated to capital raising and deployment.

Brendan represents clients in multi‑jurisdictional internal investigations and government enforcement matters, including preparing and resolving disclosures to OFAC, BIS, DDTC, DOJ, and the SEC. He provides practical, timely counsel on time‑sensitive investments, complex diligence reviews, and responses to regulatory inquiries.

A former member of Law360’s International Trade Editorial Advisory Board, Brendan publishes regularly on national security and anti‑financial‑crime issues.