Ira Kustin and Sherrese Smith

Ira Kustin is a partner in the Investment Management group at Akin Gump, primarily advising investors in, and sponsors of, complex hedge, private equity and credit funds. His client base includes both well-established advisers and start-up managers, focusing on their operations and regulatory compliance matters. He regularly counsels private fund advisers on international investment platforms. He has written and been quoted in several advising and investing articles. His writings have been published in such notable publications as the Hedge Fund Law Report, Law 360, and Asset Management Intelligence. 

Sherrese Smith is a partner in the Media, Technology, and Telecommunications practice at Paul Hastings and is Vice-Chair of the firm's Data Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at Paul Hastings. She is a highly regarded and Chambers-ranked attorney who regularly counsels companies on complex transactional and regulatory issues involving media, communications and technology companies. She also advises and counsels multinational companies across various jurisdictions (including the U.S., EU, and Asia) on data privacy and cybersecurity and breach response issues, including managing global privacy and information security risks and compliance matters and regularly navigates clients through data breach and crisis response and associated regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings. Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Smith served as Chief Counsel to Chairman Julius Genachowski at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to joining the FCC in 2009, Smith was Vice President and General Counsel of Washington Post Digital.