Biography: Private funds

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Michael W Wolitzer is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the firm's corporate department. Mr Wolitzer's practice focuses on private investing and other facets of alternative asset management. He has also represented some of the largest and well-known sponsors of private equity funds, such as Blackstone, Centerbridge, Lexington, JPMorgan/OneEquity, Patria and Silver Lake. He has also represented sponsors in other asset categories such as real estate, mezzanine, energy/infrastructure and credit/distressed debt. In addition, he has represented global financial institutions in the establishment of their employee investment programmes, has been involved in a number of acquisitions of, and investments in, private investment firms, and has represented buyers, sellers and sponsors regarding the disposition of private fund interests.

Mr Wolitzer was until recently the co-chairman of the subcommittee on private investment funds of the International Bar Association and is a member of the executive committee (and former chairman) of the Private Investment Fund Forum (a group comprising New York City attorneys who practise extensively in the private fund area). He has served on the advisory boards of the Private Equity Analyst (relating to its survey of private equity partnership terms and conditions), the private equity investment guidelines group, the advisory board of the Private Equity CFO Association and on the industry committee on Real Estate Fund Secondary Transfers.

Mr Wolitzer has served on panels at several industry conferences, including: 'How to Negotiate Winning Partnership Terms and Conditions', "Best Practices in PPMs and Roadshows" and 'How to Raise Money and on What Terms?' (Private Equity Analyst Conferences); 'Buying, Selling and Investing in Private Investment Fund Managers', 'Negotiating Fund Terms and Conditions', 'Employee Investment Arrangements', 'The Push for Standards in the Private Equity Business', 'Mergers and Acquisitions of Private Investment Firms' and 'Convergence of Private Equity and Hedge Funds' (IBA/ABA conferences on private investment funds); 'Private Equity Funds: Investment Constraints and Key Issues to Watch Out For' (City Bar Conference on leveraged buyouts and other private equity investments); and 'How to Effectively Manage Multiple Funds', 'Current Issues Roundtable' and 'Private Equity Funds: Partnering and Strategic Alliances' (IIR Conferences on private equity fund formation).

Mr Wolitzer has been a partner at Simpson Thacher since 1998. He received his AB, magna cum laude, from Duke University in 1986, where he was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr Wolitzer received his JD from The Columbia University School of Law in 1989, where he was a James Kent Scholar (1987-1988) and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar (1986-1987, 1988-1989).