Brightstar provides a broad range of legal and compliance services.
Whether you’re just starting out or well underway in your journey as an investment adviser, we offer a wide range of legal and compliance services designed to suit your needs.
Transition and Business Launch Services
Employment Transition Services
If you are thinking of leaving your current firm to launch your own firm or join another one, we can help in many ways including:
- Reviewing your specific circumstances and designing a transition path to meet your goals and avoid regulatory and legal risks.
- Reviewing employment and other agreements that impact your transition and advising on how to navigate the risks associated with any pertinent post-employment restrictions, including restrictions on taking your clients with you.
- Reviewing pertinent laws and judicial decisions that impact your transition plan.
Business Launch Services
If you are launching an advisory firm, we can provide the following corporate services:
- Providing critical strategic guidance on appropriate choice of entity for your business (e.g., LLC vs. corporation), and structuring of the ownership and management of the business.
- Drafting operating/partnership agreements designed to clearly define the rights and obligations of the business owners, including outlining management and economic rights, as well as buy-sell provisions.
Click here for a video discussing important considerations when structuring your advisory firm.
Corporate, Commercial and Employment Law Services
Ongoing Commercial Transaction Support
Whether you’re launching a firm or have been in business for years, we can help you build relationships with vendors, clients and business partners in many ways, including:
- Drafting appropriate and custom investment advisory agreements for your clients to adequately protect your firm’s interests and comply with regulatory requirements.
- Reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts with vendors providing services to your firm, including custodians, third-party managers, technology service providers, parties that refer clients to your firm, bookkeepers and marketing support services.
- Reviewing and negotiating leases with landlords.
Employment Law Services
We offer the following services to protect your interests when it comes to your relationships with employees and independent contractors:
- Drafting employment and independent contractor agreements tailored to the needs of your firm and your employees/contractors.
- Drafting agreements designed to grant equity or profits interests to your employees.
- Drafting employment handbooks to comply with employment laws where your firm conducts business.
Business Transaction Services
If you are contemplating a potential business transaction, such as a purchase or sale of a book of business, merger, acquisition, joint venture or divestiture, we can support in the following ways:
- Providing strategic guidance for buyers and sellers on structuring business transactions.
- Making introductions to potential business transaction partners.
- Reviewing, negotiating and drafting letters of intent and business transaction documents to protect your interests.
- Addressing regulatory matters related to business transactions.
Succession Planning
Every firm needs a succession plan to address transition of ownership and management of the firm in the event of the death, disability, retirement or resignation of one or more owners. We can assist by:
- Consulting with senior management to adopt a consensus approach to succession planning and evaluating different strategic planning options.
- Introducing and coordinating with other service providers, as appropriate, to adopt and implement a succession plan.
- Drafting documents to accomplish your succession planning goals.
Regulatory Support Services
Investment Adviser Registration and Reporting Services
Brightstar provides comprehensive registration and reporting support — whether you are looking at registering as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or one or more states. We can assist with the following:
- Advising on whether the firm should register or notice file as an investment adviser with any securities regulator or determining if there is an applicable exemption from registration.
- Advising as to which employees must register as investment adviser representatives and in what states.
- Drafting investment adviser registration documents for the firm (Form ADV).
- Drafting investment adviser representative registration documents for the firm’s employees (Form U-4).
- Updating Form ADV and Form U-4’s as necessitated by regulatory developments impacting the firm and its employees.
- Assisting with renewals of investment adviser representative registrations and firm notice filings.
Compliance Support Services
We can help you navigate the complexities of investment adviser compliance in the following ways:
- Conducting a comprehensive risk assessment to identify and mitigate regulatory risks facing your firm.
- Developing a compliance program (or individual policies and procedures) customized to meet your firm’s specific business operations and needs.
- Training your firm’s chief compliance officer on regulatory requirements and testing of the compliance policies and procedures.
- Training firm employees on the firm’s compliance policies and procedures.
- Providing ongoing advice on compliance matters that arise on an ongoing basis.
- Providing a custom suite of services designed to manage the firm’s compliance program.
- Conducting a mock examination of the firm’s compliance program to identify any regulatory risks before regulators come in.
- Representing the firm in regulatory examinations and investigations.
- Where appropriate, assuming the title and responsibilities of chief compliance officer for your firm.
Our compliance support services are offered on an as-needed or ongoing basis and are customized based on your firm’s needs.
Click here to learn more about how to choose the right compliance consultant for your firm.
