John S. Marten, a Shareholder in the Chicago office of Vedder Price, has substantial experience representing clients in the investment management industry.
As a member of the firm’s Investment Services group, Mr. Marten counsels clients on a wide variety of matters involving the application of the federal securities laws to investment companies, investment advisers and broker-dealers. He has significant experience counseling investment company clients with respect to new products and was recently involved in the creation of two mutual funds employing alternative investment strategies. Mr. Marten provides practical legal and business advice to investment company directors to assist them in fulfilling their fiduciary duties as directors, including extensive experience counseling directors with respect to Section 15(c) contract renewal matters.
Mr. Marten has represented clients on a broad range of matters, including:
- Advising fund independent directors on fiduciary duties and conflicts of interest and other governance matters and counseling fund clients on all aspects of board administration and meeting preparation
- Advising investment companies and investment advisers on all aspects of ongoing compliance matters, including drafting and reviewing compliance policies and procedures and assisting clients in annual compliance reviews
- Handling all aspects of the formation of funds, including corporate formation, SEC registration and initial securities issuance
- Representing mutual fund clients in structuring complex alternative fund products, including negotiating derivative contracts
- Leading a series of fund reorganizations to streamline legal entities within a client's mutual fund complex
- Assisting a client in obtaining exemptive relief from the SEC to operate under an affiliated manager of managers structure
- Counseling clients in connection with preparing for, and responding to, SEC examination requests
More Legal and Business Bylines From John S. Marten
- SEC Reopens Comment Period for Investment Adviser and Investment Company Cybersecurity Proposals in Connection with Other Cyber and Data Privacy Related Proposals - (Posted On Monday, April 17, 2023)
- SEC Proposes Significant Liquidity Risk Management and Swing Pricing Reforms - (Posted On Wednesday, December 07, 2022)
- SEC Adopts Enhanced Proxy Voting Reporting Requirements for Funds and Managers - (Posted On Wednesday, December 07, 2022)
- Investment Adviser’s Enforcement Proceeding Results in Mutual Fund Industry Disqualification - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- SEC Enforcement Division to Increase Size of Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- FINRA Requests Comment on Sales Practices for Complex Products—and the ICI Pushes Back - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- SEC’s ESG Proposal Includes Proposed Reporting Requirement for All Index Funds—Whether ESG-Focused or Not - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- SEC Proposes Rule and Form Amendments to Enhance Disclosures by Advisers and Funds About ESG Investment Practices - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- SEC Proposes Amendments to Fund Names Rule - (Posted On Friday, June 10, 2022)
- District Court Rules in Favor of Investor in Closed End Fund Litigation - (Posted On Thursday, April 21, 2022)
Vedder Price's Investment Services group is recognized by the National Law Review as a Go-To Thought Leader for the group’s regular contributions on and analysis of SEC amendments and regulations, enforcement actions and proposed rulemaking. Topics addressed by Vedder’s Investment Services group related to the SEC include: enforcement proceeding settlements, the modernization of fund disclosure regime, amendments to proxy rules and the review process for exemptive applications. The following Vedder Price attorney authors were the most frequent contributors: John S. Marten, Nathaniel Segal and Jacob C. Tiedt.
The National Law Review recognizes Rachel Behar, Robert M. Crea, Joseph M. Mannon, John S. Marten, Nathaniel Segal, Jacob C. Tiedt, and Jeff VonDruska of Vedder Price as 2021 Go-To Thought leaders for their well-thought-out and timely updates on developments at the SEC. The SEC reporting team at Vedder Price covers a range of topics including fixed income trades, wrap fee program deficiencies, advisor fee calculations and breaks down the most critical issues, and provides readers actionable insights.