Thomas Devaney Joins Sheppard Mullin

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2013 — Thomas M. Devaney has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm’s Corporate practice group, based in the firm's New York office.  Devaney joins from Morrison & Foerster, where he was a partner and led that firm's private funds practice in New York for more 7 years. 

"Tom is an extremely highly regarded and versatile fund formation lawyer who is a perfect fit for our growing fund formation practice and overall Corporate practice group," said Guy N. Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin.

“We have added more than a dozen attorneys to the New York office this year and Tom is the second Corporate partner to join the office this month.  He is a top-notch funds counselor and we are pleased to welcome him to the team,” commented Blaine Templeman, managing partner of Sheppard Mullin’s New York office.  On Aug. 1, partner Ariel Yehezkel joined Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice group in New York from Kirkland & Ellis. 

"I am excited to join Sheppard Mullin and look forward to introducing its growing private funds practice to the New York funds community and continuing my work with global clients on innovative investment strategies across asset classes.  I was really taken by Sheppard Mullin’s collaborative culture and its attorneys' rare combination of deep expertise and practical lawyering.  I feel privileged to be able to expand Sheppard Mullin’s reputation within the private funds industry, and expect that my clients will feel the same way," Devaney stated.  Tom  is rejoining Corporate partner John Hempill, who joined Sheppard Mullin’s New York office from Morrison & Foerster in April.

Although he brings a wealth of general corporate and transactional experience based upon his time as an attorney in Silicon Valley and New York over the past 15 years, Devaney specializes in counseling sponsors and the management teams of private funds, with noteworthy experience with hedge funds employing a range of strategies, opportunity real estate funds and core infrastructure and renewable energy funds.   Devaney's expertise relates to the entire spectrum of a private fund's life cycle, from fund formation and fundraising and related U.S. securities laws and regulations,  to investment, operations and administration, including all aspects of registration and the compliance programs of SEC registered investment advisers.  He has considerable experience negotiating seed and anchor investor arrangements, investor side letters, and placement agreements.  Over the years, Devaney's clients have benefited from his extensive experience in Asia, with particular focus on Chinese real estate and private equity funds, in addition to his significant work in Europe with both fund managers and investors, including a number of significant European family offices.

Devaney received a J.D., magna cum laude, from St. John’s University School of Law in 1998 and a B.A., with honors, from University of Albany in 1995.

Sheppard Mullin has 60 attorneys based in its New York office.  The firm's Corporate practice group includes more than 135 attorneys firmwide. 

In May, Corporate partner Jung Son joined Sheppard Mullin, bringing her fund formation expertise to the firm's Palo Alto office.  Son joined from Technology Crossover Ventures, where she served as Associate General Counsel. 

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Sheppard Mullin is a full service Global 100 firm with 630 attorneys in 15 offices located in the United States, Europe and Asia.  Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions.  In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.  For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com.