Education, Universities, and Endowments

Rimon advises universities and endowments on the full range of their legal matters. Our University and Endowments practice is multidisciplinary in nature, involving attorneys who regularly counsel clients on not-for-profit status and related issues; tax and corporate matters; filing for and protecting patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets; technology transfers; labor and employment matters; litigation and dispute resolution; and investment management and related issues.

We have represented some of the United States’ largest public and private universities, as well as their endowments and supporting foundations. The experiences of our Universities and Endowments team include serving as president of a major university, serving on the boards of colleges, universities, and their foundations, and working as partners at some of the United States’ largest law firms.

Each member of our team is committed to Rimon’s philosophy of responsiveness and efficiency. That means that the lawyer you hire will be the lawyer who is working for you — not a staff of mid-level lawyers. We invite you to learn more about our capabilities below.

Related Practice Areas

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Corporate Governance

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Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

COBRA continuation
HIPAA privacy
Withdrawal liability
401(k) plans
Union contract negotiations
Pensions
Cash balance plans
Disability plans
Life insurance
ESOPs
Counsel top-level executives in the negotiation and documentation of their compensation and benefit agreements
Taft-Hartley and governmental plans
Post-retirement compensation
Health care arrangements (health, dental, vision, and nursing plans)
Designing and documenting compensation arrangements that may include: stock options, phantom stock, and other equity and non-equity elements
Analysis of investment decisions in conjunction with clients’ investment advisors
Mediation
Legal counsel on:
- Cash salary and bonuses
- Incentive stock options
- Non-qualified stock options
- Restricted stock plans
- Phantom stock agreements
- Limitations on tax-qualified plans
- Creative deferred compensation plans
- Supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs)
Employment benefits
Employment contracts
Golden parachutes
Negotiated severances
Executive employment agreements
Incentive compensation arrangements
Deferred compensation
Employment disputes and litigation
Restrictive covenants and non-competition agreements
Enforcement of non-compete and confidentiality agreements
Separation agreements

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Employment Law

Advice and counseling
Employee compensation
Benefit plans and arrangements
Compensation negotiation and documentation
Competitive market position
Corporate whistleblowing
Corporate governance and shareholder-related matters
Cross-border employment law issues
Discrimination, harassment and retaliation
ERISA and benefits litigation
Executive compensation
Financial reporting
Public disclosure
Retention concerns and succession planning
Securities law compliance
Traditional labor law
Wage-and-hour
Withdrawal

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Estate and Gift Tax

Gift tax minimization through grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), family limited partnerships and other structures
Dynasty trust planning to avoid estate tax in successive generations
Income tax minimization through charitable remainder trusts and direct gifts to private family foundations
Preparation of estate tax returns and gift tax returns

Intellectual Property Transactions and Due Diligence

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Investment Advisers and Other Asset Managers

Rimon’s Financial Services practice represents investment advisers and other asset managers ranging from boutique firms to global financial services companies.

We counsel investment advisers and other asset managers on a range of matters, including:

Registration as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and as a commodity pool operator (CPO) and commodity trading adviser (CTA) with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as well as advice on available exclusions from such registrations
Negotiation of key service provider arrangements, including investment management agreements for ERISA and non-ERISA clients, sub-advisory agreements, custody agreements, administration agreements, and brokerage and trading agreements
Regulatory compliance issues, including preparation and review of compliance policies and procedures to address new regulations and assistance with internal and regulatory audits and examinations
Third-party solicitation arrangements
Records and information management

We also counsel financial industry participants on general corporate matters, combining our knowledge of the unique regulatory issues affecting financial services industry clients with the expertise of attorneys in Rimon’s other practice areas, including:

Litigation and arbitration relating to alleged securities fraud and regulatory violations and employment matters
Design and implementation of management company structures, including arrangements among principals, employee incentive compensation programs and retention matters and related tax matters
Acquisitions and sales of investment advisory firms
Employment disputes between financial services firms and their employees
Orphan pension plans and escheatment issues

Life Sciences

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Non-Profit Organizations

Charitable giving
Finance – endowments and investments
Nonprofit governance matters
Nonprofit tax matters
Program-related investment (PRI)
Formation of private foundations
Advising board members and officers of public charities
Advising board members and officers of private foundations
Tax compliance for private foundations and public charities

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Private Investment Funds

Rimon advises sponsors of private investment funds across a wide spectrum of asset classes, investment strategies, and delivery vehicles, including:

Hedge funds that engage in long/short, global macro, event-driven, multi-strategy, market-neutral, relative-value, and commodities strategies
Private equity funds
Funds of funds and master-feeder funds
Venture capital funds
Leveraged buyout funds
Real estate funds
Charitable funds
Family office funds
Special purpose investment vehicles

We counsel private fund sponsors on structuring, operational, and distribution matters, including:

Conditions to the availability of exclusions from the 1940 Act
Application of ERISA’s plan assets regulation to various fund structures
ERISA issues related to seeding investment funds with employer 401(k) and IRA accounts
Negotiation of key service provider agreements, including advisory agreements, administration agreements, custody agreements, prime brokerage agreements, and placement agency agreements

We partner closely with local counsel in offshore jurisdictions to ensure efficient and well-coordinated new fund launches.