How big is our practice group?
The Private Investment Funds Group ("PIFG") consists of approximately 90 lawyers, including partners, associates and counsel, and offsite lawyers. The lawyers in the PIFG are located in all of the firm's domestic offices.

What do we do?
The PIFG has the largest and most sophisticated private investment fund practice in the country. The firm has earned the top ranking for each of the past five years in Private Equity Analyst's list of the "most active law firms by number of funds," advising both fund sponsors and investors in connection with the formation of funds and the investments in funds. The Group draws on expertise across a variety of practice groups within the firm, but lawyers who devote all or a substantial portion of their time to this practice are predominately corporate and tax & benefits lawyers. There are two practice areas with the PIFG: fund sponsor representation (i.e., fund formation), and fund investor representation (i.e., fund investments).

Fund Formation
The PIFG organizes the full range of private investment funds, including leveraged buyout funds, venture capital funds, funds of funds, CDO funds, hedge funds, mezzanine funds, infrastructure, emerging markets, distressed securities, and commodity related funds. We also have organized specialized funds in the natural resources, energy, technology, and health fields.

Fund Investments
The PIFG also represents a significant number of university endowments, foundations, funds of funds, pension funds, and other institutional investors in connection with their investments in hundreds of private equity, mezzanine, venture, CDO, hedge, real estate, infrastructure, emerging markets, distressed securities, and other funds.

• During 2007, Ropes & Gray acted as counsel for the general partner/manager in organizing 160 separate private equity/venture capital type investment funds; 91 of those funds held a closing during the calendar year 2007, and the remaining 69 funds are expected close in 2008. The 91 funds which held closings in 2007 had total capital commitments of approximately $80 billion, and 21 of those funds each had total capital commitments in excess of $1 billion. The three largest funds we worked on during 2007 each had a target size in excess of $10 billion. Of the 91 funds which held closings in 2007, 54 were domestic based funds, and 37 were international based funds.
• We acted as counsel for approximately 70 limited partner-clients in connection with their investments in 483 separate private equity/venture capital type investment funds which all held a closing during calendar year 2007. The PIFG represented limited partner clients who invested during 2007 in every one of the largest U.S. buy-out funds that came to market in 2007. 
• We assist in the organization of numerous private equity, mezzanine, venture, CDO, hedge and other funds ranging in size from under $100 million to many billions of dollars.
• We act as lead counsel for several of the leading European, Africa, Australian, and other international fund groups.
• Our attorneys have vast experience in structuring these funds and extensive expertise in analyzing relevant ERISA, securities, investment company and tax issues.
• We represent many leading university endowments, foundations, funds of funds, pension funds and other major institutional investors in connection with their investments in private equity, mezzanine, venture, CDO, hedge and other funds.
• We are involved on one side or the other in the organization of virtually all of the significant private funds brought to market.
• In the last 10 years, we served as counsel for sponsors of and investors in hundreds of private equity funds with committed capital of over $750 billion.
• Our unsurpassed familiarity with market terms in virtually every type of fund gives us a unique vantage point from which we can assist in fund formation and investor negotiations.
• We assist in organizing investment management companies which offer a wide range of private fund investment products.
• We have extensive experience in the secondary fund market, organizing secondary funds and structuring and implementing secondary fund transactions.