The Future of the Business of Hedge Funds: Where Do We Go From Here?

Brendan is Managing Director and General Counsel at AQR Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser based in Greenwich, CT where he is responsible for managing the full spectrum of the firm's legal affairs.

Prior to joining AQR in 2004, Brendan worked at the New York law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as an Associate in their Investment Management Group where he regularly represented registered investment companies, investment advisers and broker-dealers. Brendan has extensive experience in issues relating to the establishment and ongoing operation of hedge funds and funds of funds (U.S. and offshore) as well as private equity funds investing in the U.S. and abroad, including emerging markets. He also worked for the law firm of Seward & Kissel LLP as an Associate in the firm’s Financial Services & Investment Management Department. At Seward, Brendan dealt in related matters with respect to investment advisers, including commodity pool operation, management company structuring, fund marketing and advertising, employment agreements, joint ventures and seed capital arrangements.

Brendan has spoken at a number of industry conferences on regulatory matters affecting the financial services industry and currently serves as Chairman of the Managed Funds Association’s CTA, CPO and Futures Committee and as a member of MFA’s Investment Adviser and Government Affairs Committees. In addition, Brendan serves on the National Futures Association’s Board of Directors and is an active member of the Investment Company Institute’s Equity Markets and Derivatives Markets Advisory Committees.

Brendan also serves on the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Law and Economics, a joint research center between the Law School, the Wharton School and the Department of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brendan received his JD from Cornell Law School in 2000 and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations & Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

Mr. Messinger is responsible for advising Magnitude on a wide array of legal matters, including product development, marketing, fund formation and governance, and regulatory and compliance matters. He is a member of the firm’s Compliance Committee.

Prior to joining Magnitude, he spent 5 years as an Associate and then Counsel in the Investment Management group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. At WilmerHale, Mr. Messinger advised private fund managers and other financial services firms regarding fund formation and regulatory and compliance matters. Prior to his tenure at WilmerHale, he was an Associate in the Corporate department at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he focused on hedge fund formation and M&A transactions.

Mr. Messinger received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School and his B.A. from the University at Albany.

Simon M. Lorne has served in a wide variety of public sector, academic and private sector positions during the course of his career.  In the public sector, he was most notably General Counsel of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, that agency’s principal legal position, with responsibilities that included advising the Commission on all matters that came before it. He served in that role from 1993 to 1996 under Chairman Arthur Levitt.  In the academic sphere, he is currently the co-director of Stanford Law School’s Directors’ College, the United States’ premiere institution for the education of independent directors of publicly held corporations, and is an adjunct professor at the New York University Law School and the NYU Stern School of Business.  He has previously held positions on the faculties at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Southern California Law School.
 
In the private sector, Mr. Lorne is currently the Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Millennium Management LLC, a hedge fund manager responsible for over $7 billion in assets under management, with offices throughout the world.  He has held that position since 2004.  Prior to joining Millennium he was a partner in the Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (from 1972 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2004); the global head of internal audit at Salomon Brothers (now a unit of Citigroup) (from 1996 to 1998); and the global head of Compliance at Citigroup (1998-1999).  He also serves on the Board of Directors and audit committee of Teledyne Technologies, Inc.
 
Mr. Lorne is a graduate of Occidental College, with an A.B. (cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., magna cum laude).