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— Compliance Risk Review

Growing RIAs don't have a compliance problem. They have a structure problem.

As advisory firms scale, compliance responsibilities become distributed across leadership, consultants, and outside providers. That structure grows fragmented — and increasingly difficult to defend under regulatory scrutiny.

RIA Only

We work exclusively with RIAs and broker-dealers

Full Scope

Legal, compliance, and regulatory defense

SEC

Attorneys, not consultants

"Most firms find out too late."

— Leila Shaver, Securities Attorney

Request your compliance risk review

We work with
Growth-stage RIAs Multi-office firms PE-backed advisors M&A-active firms Firms without a career CCO

SOUND FAMILIAR —

The firms we work with have some things in common.

You don’t have to be in crisis for your compliance structure to be a problem. Most of the firms we work with are operating and growing — they just know something isn’t quite right.

01

Fragmented CCO responsibility

Compliance is distributed across your COO, an outside consultant, and a lawyer you call when something goes wrong. Nobody owns it clearly — and under examination, that ambiguity becomes your problem.

02

Growth outpacing governance

The compliance structure that served your firm at an earlier stage isn’t built for a multi-office, multi-advisor firm that’s still scaling. The gaps widen as you grow, not the other way around.

03

M&A or PE diligence approaching

Buyers and investors scrutinize compliance governance closely. Firms with fragmented oversight structures are harder to value, harder to close, and harder to integrate.

04

The SEC has raised the bar on what "compliant" means

Regulators no longer check whether a review happened. They want to see that it actually caught something — and that your firm did something about it. Checkbox compliance doesn’t produce that evidence.

What we look at

This isn’t a checklist audit. It’s a legal assessment of how your compliance architecture is structured — and where it creates exposure.

Governance structure

How compliance authority is designated, distributed, and documented across your firm’s leadership

Regulatory defensibility

Whether your program can demonstrate substantive operation — not just procedural existence — under SEC examination

CCO oversight model

The qualifications, authority, and capacity of whoever currently holds CCO responsibilities at your firm

Scalability gaps

Where your compliance architecture will break down as you add advisors, offices, or cross regulatory thresholds

WHAT TO EXPECT

It starts with a conversation. Not a commitment.

Requesting a review doesn’t require preparation, paperwork, or a significant time investment on your end. We do the work of understanding your firm’s structure. You show up to a conversation.

We are securities attorneys — not compliance consultants. The guidance you receive is backed by legal expertise, not just industry experience.

We'll be in touch shortly

After you submit, a member of our team reviews your intake personally and follows up to discuss next steps.

A focused conversation about your firm's structure

We ask about how compliance responsibility is held, where the gaps are, and what's prompting you to look at this now. No prep needed — just an honest conversation.

A clear picture of where you stand

By the end of the conversation you'll have a clear sense of where your program is exposed and what it would take to make it defensible.

No obligation to proceed

The review is a starting point. Firms that want to move forward into an OCD or OCCO engagement can — but there's no pressure to have the conversation.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Built for a specific type of firm

We work with a limited number of firms at a time. The firms we take on are growth-stage RIAs who have moved past the point where a compliance consultant is sufficient — and who need legal oversight and governance structure behind their program. Size matters less than complexity.

RIAs managing $500M – $5B+ in assets
Multi-office and multi-advisor firms
Firms approaching M&A, recapitalization, or PE investment
Firms without a dedicated career CCO
RIAs that have received regulatory correspondence
Firms where compliance responsibility is split across leadership
Firms scaling rapidly and outgrowing their current structure

Why My RIA Lawyer

There’s no shortage of compliance firms. The difference is in what we actually are — and what that means for you when it matters most.

Securities attorneys, not consultants

We are securities attorneys — not compliance vendors or consultants. We advise on legal risk, build defensible compliance architecture, and defend firms when regulators come knocking.

Exclusively RIAs and broker-dealers

We work with financial firms only. We understand the regulatory expectations of the SEC and the governance challenges of scaling an advisory firm — because it's all we do.

Structure problems, not checklist problems

Most compliance providers manage tasks. We assess governance. There's a meaningful difference — and under the SEC's current examination posture, that difference is what determines whether your program holds up.

Ready to understand where your program stands?

Engagements are limited. We maintain a small number of active reviews to ensure the quality of oversight we provide to each firm.

A conversation costs nothing. Waiting might.