Danforth Townley Named Attorney Fellow in SEC's Division of Investment Management

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Danforth Townley has been appointed an Attorney Fellow in its Division of Investment Management, which protects investors and promotes capital formation through oversight and regulation of the nation’s multi-trillion dollar investment management industry.

Mr. Townley will provide counsel on rulemaking issues and other policy initiatives beginning in January 2013.

“We are pleased to announce that Dan is joining the Division of Investment Management. He has longtime experience in private practice in advising hedge funds, private equity funds, and investment companies that will be helpful to the Division,” said Norm Champ, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management.

Mr. Townley said, “I’m extremely excited to have this opportunity to serve at the SEC during this busy period of regulatory change for the financial industry. I look forward to working with Norm Champ and the staff of the Division of Investment Management on important rulemaking activities and other regulatory initiatives.”

Mr. Townley comes to the SEC from law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he is a partner in the firm’s Corporate Department and practices in its Investment Management Group in New York. He has advised clients on investment funds and related corporate finance transactions including the structuring and offering of hedge funds, private equity funds, and other investment vehicles. Mr. Townley has advised financial institutions, fund sponsors, corporations, employees’ securities companies, and other entities about regulatory compliance and exemptions pertaining to the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. He has served as Chair of the Practising Law Institute’s Annual Conference on Hedge Funds and as a regular panelist on investment fund topics. From 1985 to 1986, Mr. Townley clerked for the Honorable Robert W. Sweet, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Townley has a B.A. from Yale College, magna cum laude, and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of The Yale Law Journal.