Adam V. Sussman

Adam V. Sussman is a partner in Goodwin's Private Investment Funds practice and Private Equity group. Adam counsels private fund sponsors on all aspects of their business, including the organization, marketing, fundraising and ongoing operation, compliance and management of private equity funds, credit and debt funds, hedge funds, co-investment funds and managed accounts, as well as the firm ownership and upper-tier organization of asset managers. He also advises institutional investors with respect to their participation in private equity and other alternative asset funds.

Adam works with both emerging and established sponsors and has experience spanning the private equity asset class for sponsors with a wide variety of strategies such as buyout, credit/debt, growth equity, energy, mezzanine, real estate and venture capital. His practice includes advice with respect to bespoke fund structures, joint ventures and other strategic arrangements. He engages in pro bono representation, advising on a variety of matters including U.S. veteran disability issues and entrepreneurial business formation and serves on the Leadership Board of the non-profit organization Join Israel.

Adam earned his B.A., with Distinction, in History and Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University, and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and holds an M.A. concentrating in Political Economy.

Adam has significant experience with a diverse group of sponsors and investors, and past representative clients include 1543 Capital, ABRY Partners, Arbour Lane Capital Management, Audax Group, Breakwater Management, Caltius Capital Management, Elliot Management Corporation, GTCR, Jefferies Finance, Landmark Partners, MG3 Developer, Newpath Management, Nonantum Capital Partners, Paulson & Co. Inc., Sentinel Capital Partners, Teachers Retirement System of Texas, Verizon/Bell Atlantic Master Trust, Vista Equity Partners, W Capital, Warburg Pincus, and Watchtower Management Group, among others.

Adam has represented sponsors and investors in the organization and structuring of investment funds and their related actives in various sectors and capacities, including:

Private Equity

• Represented a private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $385 million lower-middle market private equity fund*
• Represented an investment management firm in the formation, investment structuring and the acquisition of a $40 million distressed private equity portfolio and $34 million distressed private equity portfolio*
• Represented a private equity sponsor focused on growth-stage investments in national security, cybersecurity and government technology businesses in the structuring of a cybersecurity fund*
• Represented a private equity sponsor focused on communications, media, information and business services in the fundraising of a $950 million private equity fund*
• Represented an asset manager focused on enterprise software, data and technology in the structuring and fundraising of a $5.775 billion private equity fund*
• Represented a middle-market private equity sponsor in the fundraising of a $1.3 billion lower middle market private equity fund*
• Represented a private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $3.85 billion buyout fund*
• Represented a middle-market private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $207 million private equity fund*
• Represented a middle-market private equity sponsor focused on healthcare, in the structuring and fundraising of a $300 million private equity fund*
• Represented an asset manager focused on enterprise software, data and technology in the structuring and fundraising of a $500 million middle market private equity fund*
• Represented a private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $13.4 billion private equity fund*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Credit/Debt

• Represented a structured credit sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $125 million structured credit fund*
• Represented an asset manager in the structuring and fundraising of a $500 million credit fund^*
• Represented a structured credit sponsor in the establishment of multiple investment advisory relationships, managed accounts and co-investments totaling over $325 million*
• Represented a structured credit sponsor in the structuring and organization of a permanent co-investment structure to facilitate co-investments alongside its inaugural credit fund*
• Represented a global alternative asset manager with respect to managed accounts with middle eastern sovereign wealth funds, totaling over $1 billion*
• Represented an asset manager in the negotiation of a $150 million managed account with non-U.S. financial institution for originated debt investments*
• Represented an asset manager in a co-investment arrangement with a global asset manager to invest alongside its direct lending fund*
• Represented a lower-middle market direct debt sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $60 million credit fund*
• Represented the private credit arm of an investment bank in the structuring and fundraising of a $275 million revolver fund*
• Represented a credit sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $330 million credit fund*
• Represented a middle-market private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $347 million mezzanine debt fund, consisting of a main fund and a parallel small business investment company registered with the SBA*
• Represented an alternative asset manager focused on event driven investing in the distressed, special situations, and asset-based credit markets in the structuring and fundraising of a credit fund*
• Represented a private equity sponsor focused on communications, media, information and business services in the fundraising of a $1.5 billion debt fund.

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Real Estate, Energy and Infrastructure

• Represented a syndicate of individual investors in the formation of a qualified opportunity zone fund managed by a real estate fund sponsor*
• Represented a U.S. state entity in the establishment of an evergreen co-investment arrangement to invest alongside a private equity sponsor in certain real estate investments*
• Represented a real estate developer, in the structuring and fundraising of a REIT and the $250 million consolidation of its charter school portfolio*
• Represented an investment management firm in a real estate joint venture structured as a fund-of-one*
• Represented a private equity sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $4 billion energy fund*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Venture Capital

• Represented a life science venture capital sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a $100 million venture capital fund*
• Represented an asset manager focused on public and private investments in technology media and telecommunications, in the structuring and fundraising of a series of a deal-by-deal fund to make a $25 million indirect investment in a non-U.S. operating company*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Funds-of-Funds

• Represented a venture capital fund manager, in the fundraising of a $75 million fund-of-funds formed to invest primarily in privately-managed U.S.-based venture capital and growth equity funds*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Hedge Funds

• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a fixed income fund focused on real estate-related products*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the fundraising of a multi-strategy quant fund*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the formation of an opportunistic fund investing in securitized products*
• Represented an asset manager focused on public and private investments in technology media and telecommunications in the formation and fundraising of a long/short equity fund investing in the global software sector*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the formation and fundraising of a deal-by-deal event-driven activist fund*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the fundraising of its flagship short-term momentum fund focusing on futures and currency*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor, in the structuring and fundraising of a commodities fund investing in certain currency contracts*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the structuring and fundraising of a benchmarked long-only small-cap-equities-focused fund*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Management Company and General Partner Work

• Represented a new structured credit sponsor in its initial organization and upper tier structuring*
• Represented an established opportunistic credit and special situations sponsor, in the upper tier restructuring of the management company, the general partner for their second credit fund and the establishment of an employee compensation pool*
• Represented a credit sponsor in its initial organization and upper tier structuring*
• Represented a single-family office and its associated investment funds in its upper tier structuring and its underlying fund agreements*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in the structuring and upper tier organization of for two business units designed to invest in environmental credits and sustainable companies, respectively*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Spinouts, GP Stakes and Minority Investments

• Represented a structured credit sponsor in the sale of a minority interest of the manager to Brevan Howard*
• Represented a credit sponsor in its spinout from and seed arrangement with Harvard Management Company, Inc.*
• Represented a private investment management firm with respect to certain legacy carry pools at the upper tier level in connection with the spinout of one of its subsidiaries and a simultaneous merger*
• Represented a hedge fund sponsor in a $300 million seed deal with a non-U.S. pension fund*
• Represented an asset manager focused on enterprise software, data and technology in the sale of a minority interest of the manager to Dyal Capital Partners*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Secondaries

• Represented many sponsors, buyers and sellers in connection with transfers and secondary transactions with respect to private equity interests*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Investor Representation

• Advised a non-profit with respect to investments in various private equity funds and hedge funds*
• Advised a global asset manager and investment bank with respect to investments in various hedge funds*
• Advised a non-profit with respect to investments in various venture capital funds*
• Represented a U.S. state entity as a limited partner in certain private equity funds*
• Advised a fund-of-funds with respect to investments in various hedge funds*
• Represented a non-profit and its associated pension fund as limited partners in certain hedge funds*
• Represented a pension fund as a limited partner in certain hedge funds*
• Represented a single family office and its related investment fund as limited partners in certain hedge funds*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Other

• Represented certain employees departing a private equity asset manager in their departure agreements and proposal of terms for a new integrated industrial services fund*
• Represented a global placement agent, in the negotiation of certain placement agent relationships and agreements*
• Represented a collection of former mineral traders affiliated with an operating company acquired by a global private equity sponsor in a transaction to purchase shares of the operating sponsor in connection with the acquisition*

*Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Adam was an associate in the Private Investment Funds group of Proskauer Rose LLP. Earlier, Adam began his legal career as an associate in the Private Funds Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and later continued as an associate at Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff and Cohen, P.C. Before practicing law, Adam was an analyst at an early-stage investment fund and business incubator based in New York’s Silicon Alley where he evaluated new ventures, conducted due diligence and coordinated funding with entrepreneurs and investors and served in the War Room of Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign as part of the Media and Rapid Response Team. 

While in law school, Adam served as the Senior Articles Editor for the Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy. 

Adam has been selected for inclusion in The Legal 500 U.S. 2022.