Asset Management ESG

We are an early mover in ESG and CSR integration and impact investing, helping asset managers, institutional owners, and issuers navigate the complex considerations required throughout the investment decision-making process. Our clients have the advantage of a deep bench of attorneys with expertise in every aspect of this field—fund structuring, formation and operation, private equity transactions, leveraged finance, securities and public companies, tax and benefits (including ERISA), and issues relevant to family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and charitable organizations, among others. Senior members of our team have advised on ESG, CSR and supply chain compliance matters for almost 30 years, giving clients a long-term perspective that few firms can match.

Underpinning Ropes & Gray’s efforts in sustainability, ESG, and CSR is our foundation as an advisor to asset management industry participants. More than 300 Ropes & Gray partners, counsel and associates focus on advising a global client base of asset management firms, including public and private fund sponsors, investors, and investment advisers, on all aspects of their business. Our work covers the entire spectrum of private and registered fund structures and vehicles, investment strategies, asset types and industries. Our clients rely on us to identify significant commercial, regulatory and economic issues, to help them understand emerging trends, and to craft innovative solutions that match their specific circumstances and goals. We help our clients both understand the regulatory environment within which they are operating and stay ahead of stakeholder requests.

Many of our clients have shown a deep commitment to ESG, CSR and supply chain compliance—or, at least, recognize the business value of it—and turn to Ropes & Gray for advice in these  initiatives. We also advise trade and industry groups in creating their own frameworks and best practices, and in influencing proposed legislative and regulatory efforts, “soft law instruments,” and codes of conduct.

We advise many asset management industry participants in adopting one or more of the growing number of ESG guidelines and procedures. Our work for them includes helping to develop ESG and CSR tools and identifying data to assist in evaluating companies against those criteria. Many asset owners and investment managers have voluntarily adopted ESG and CSR policies and release annual reports to investors, and they rely on Ropes & Gray’s guidance in these efforts.

Similarly, many of our clients are striving to ensure that their overall investments and related incentives are appropriately structured to help drive meaningful, measurable positive change, as well as competitive financial returns. We have advised on a number of these matters and help asset managers and institutional investors looking to monitor their social and environmental missions and maintain the high ethical standards of their investments.

A fundamental building block of sustainable investing is ensuring that the operating companies at the end of the investment chain actually meet the sustainability goals of their investors and the asset managers deploying that money. This responsibility extends through the operating companies to the ends of their supply chains. Ropes & Gray has the leading supply chain compliance practice, offering clients a comprehensive approach to supply chain compliance. Asset management industry participants and the operating companies they invest in rely on Ropes & Gray to help them comply with legal requirements; draft and comply with policies and procedures; negotiate and comply with contractual terms and conditions and codes of conduct; develop other aspects of compliance programs; keep on top of emerging trends and industry best practices; provide training; and assist with crisis management and special investigations. Clients rely on us to help them make the right deals on the right terms, thoughtfully assess risk and make appropriate trade-offs, and respond quickly to meet business demands -- among them is meeting their ESG, CSR, and sustainability requirements and responsibilities.

In addition, our team regularly represents issuers on their compliance with a wide range of enacted, pending and proposed regulatory requirements; “soft law” instruments; and industry and NGO codes of conduct, standards, frameworks and guidance, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. For more details on our capabilities, visit ESG, CSR and Business and Human Rights