Edward H. Klees

"Investment management documentation is notoriously long and complicated. Our job is to make it simple, at a reasonable cost."

A leader of the firm’s investment management practice group, Ed spearheads Hirschler’s representation of endowments, foundations, family offices and outsourced chief investment offices (OCIOs), as well as pension plans and other institutional investors. He also works with investment advisers on alternative investment strategies, including venture capital fund managers for biotech and medical commercialization, such as licensing, technology transfer, joint ventures and startups.  As former chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Institutional Investors Committee and a frequent author and speaker on institutional investment issues, Ed is considered a national thought leader on legal, compliance and policy issues relating to institutional investment.  He is also a member of the Institutional Limited Partners Association’s steering committees on the adoption of model limited partnership forms and a model non-disclosure agreement.  His practice also includes representation of academic partners on industry/academic collaborations, consulting and startups.

Ed has more than 20 years of experience in investment management, regulatory oversight, risk management, operations, and compliance and ethics programs for both institutional investors and investment advisors.  From 2012 to 2015 he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law where he co-taught a course on private equity and hedge funds.  He is the author of numerous articles, including “How Safe Are Institutional Assets in a Custodial Bank’s Insolvency?”, the leading paper on bank custody law.  He also is co-author, with Nobel Prize winner H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., of Connecting with Companies:  A Guide to Biomedical Consulting Agreements (2nd edition, 2014).

Ed is former general counsel of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO), where he advised on a range of institutional investment topics, including securities and investment advisory laws, investment advisory contracts, bank custody, and international issues, as well as compliance and operations as well as board matters.  Prior to joining UVIMCO, he was associate general counsel for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a philanthropy based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and was in private practice in New York with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison and Shearman & Sterling.

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association, Chair, Institutional Investors Committee
  • Chair Emeritus, 2018- current
  • Chair, 2014- 2018
  • Vice Chair, 2013- 2014
• International Limited Partners Association
  • Steering Committee, Model Agreements, 2016- present 
  • Meeting leader, Annual Leadership Conference, 2016
• National Association of College and University Attorneys, Committee on Program for 2019 Annual Conference
• National Association of Pension Plan Attorneys
  • Model Fiduciary Primer Working Group, 2018- present

Business and Civic Organizations

• Lecturer in Law, University of Virginia School of Law, 2012 – 2015 (Private Equity and Hedge Funds)
• General Counsel, University of Virginia Investment Management Company, 2008-2016

Ed and his family moved to Charlottesville 10 years ago from the DC area when Ed accepted a position at UVA, and they enjoy spending time on long walks and binge-watching TV shows.  Recent favorites are “Narcos” and “Deutschland 83.”    

Ed is a fan of rock music and rock music history.  His favorite hobby is playing or reading about music.  Among his favorite current performers are the Jayhawks, Belle & Sebastian, Aimee Mann and St. Vincent.  All-timers include the Beatles, the Kinks, the Byrds, Van Morrison, Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, the Clash, the Smithereens, XTC, Blur, Randy Newman and Laura Nyro.