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    Aug. 13, 2026

Ireland Overhauls Its Private Funds Regime: Landmark Update to the AIF Rulebook

On May 5, 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland published its revised AIF Rulebook (Rulebook) for alternate investment funds (AIFs), which took effect immediately. For managers of Qualifying Investor AIFs, the revisions are overwhelmingly positive, providing greater structural and commercial flexibility across a wide range of fund features, from share class design and intermediary investment vehicles to warehousing, liquidity management, fund finance and investor co-investment. The Rulebook should be read alongside the investment fund legislation, the newly updated Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) Regulations (taking into account AIFMD II) and AIFMD Level 2, with the legislation prevailing in the event of any inconsistency. This guest article by K&L Gates attorneys Gayle Bowen, Shane Geraghty and Hazel Doyle discusses the key changes introduced by the revised Rulebook and explains what they mean in practice for private fund managers. See “Ireland’s Department of Finance Issues Recommendations for Funds Sector” (Dec. 5, 2024).

SEC Proposes to Rescind NMS Rules 610(e) and 611

The SEC has proposed rescinding Rule 611 of Regulation NMS (Order Protection Rule), which prohibits so-called “trade-throughs” of national market system (NMS) stocks, and Rule 610(e), which requires exchanges to restrict locking and crossing quotations in NMS stocks. The SEC believes that eliminating the rules would have many benefits, including reducing market complexity, improving price discovery and lowering costs for market participants. This article parses the rulemaking release, with commentary on the implications of the proposed changes for hedge fund managers from W. Hardy Callcott, partner at Sidley Austin LLP, and Susan Schroeder, partner at WilmerHale. For more on the NMS, see our three-part series on the SEC’s enhanced order routing disclosures: “How New Disclosures Shed Light on Rebates Paid to Broker-Dealers” (Mar. 28, 2019); “Understanding Rule 606(a) and Rule 606(b)(3) Reports” (Apr. 4, 2019); and “How Fund Managers Should Use These Additional Disclosures Going Forward” (Apr. 11, 2019).

Managing Prediction Market Insider Trading Risks

The explosive rise of prediction markets in the last two years has led to a host of legal questions, not the least of which is whether and how they will be subject to insider trading enforcement. Event contracts are generally not securities subject to SEC enforcement under the securities laws, and other laws that might be applied to police insider trading have traditionally been used less frequently by enforcement authorities. In this guest article, Boies partner Blake Goebel, with the assistance of summer law clerk Will Randolph, examines court cases that shed light on how prediction market insider trading can and might be prosecuted under the wire fraud statute and Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the legal issues facing government enforcers, and then unpacks how such insider trading might create risk for firms and suggests ways in which compliance programs can be adjusted to mitigate this risk. See “Insider Trading Enforcement Moves Beyond Equities” (Jul. 16, 2026).

U.S. Taxation Concerns for Private Funds and Their Investors Following the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Part One of Two)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which made many significant changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC), has now been in effect for more than a year. A BARBRI program, featuring Kleinberg Kaplan partners Philip S. Gross and Eli A. Shalam and EisnerAmper partner Marc Stahl, examined the changes implemented by OBBBA and their effects on private fund managers and investors. This article, the first in a two-part series, covers their discussion on taxation of performance allocations; the IRC provisions changed by OBBBA affecting management fee waivers; deductions and loss limitations; gains on disposition of qualified small business stock; and income from controlled foreign corporations. The second article will summarize their comments on the fundamental tax-related goals of U.S. taxable investors, non-taxable investors and foreign investors, as well as tax-related fund structuring issues for management and performance fees. For more from Gross, see “Key Tax Issues Fund Managers Must Consider” (Jun. 10, 2021).

Custody Rule Remains on SEC’s Radar

In September 2022, the SEC announced that it had been conducting a targeted examination sweep of investment advisers’ compliance with Rule 206(4)‑2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, known as the Custody Rule. At the time, it resolved administrative proceedings against nine advisers. A year later, it announced an additional five resolutions. Nearly three years later, custody remains one of the Division of Examinations’ “core” areas of interest, and, since the exam sweep, the SEC has continued to bring proceedings involving Custody Rule violations. The latest such proceeding is against a registered investment adviser that allegedly violated the Custody Rule with respect to four private funds it advised from 2015 through 2024. This article provides a refresher on key provisions of the Custody Rule and the details of the adviser’s resolution of the enforcement action. See “SEC Settles Five Additional Enforcement Proceedings for Custody Rule and Form ADV Violations” (Feb. 15, 2024); and “SEC Settles Nine Enforcement Proceedings Over Custody Rule and Related Form ADV Violations” (Feb. 2, 2023).

Paul Hastings Welcomes Chidi Oteh in Boston

Chidi Oteh has joined Paul Hastings as a partner in the investment funds and private capital practice in the firm’s Boston office. Oteh represents investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity funds and institutional investors. For more recent additions to Paul Hastings, see “Paul Hastings Adds Former In‑House Counsel to Chicago Office” (Mar. 12, 2026); and “Former CCO Joins Paul Hastings in New York” (Jan. 29, 2026).

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