The main issues and challenges for the legal profession on and offshore are explored in the latest legal round table.

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Choosing counsel is one of the main decisios a fund makes. A number of factors need to be taken into account when selecting counsel, including reputation, cost and experience.

Regulation is at the centre of the choice of on or offshore. All eyes are on impending regulation as the legal profession ponders the repercussions.

Deciding whether to form the fund on or offshore has become a critical decision. The question of domicile on or offshore has become central to the future of any fund or fund of hedge funds.

Tax issues issues still dominate discussios around fund formation. Tax treatment remains at the heart of most fund structures with an ever-increasingly complex environment emerging

Participants
A&L Goodbody Solicitors
Brian McDermott, head of the investment funds department, Dublin
Siobhán Moloney, associate, Dublin

Aequitas Legal
Omar Zerafa, associate, Malta

Akin Gump
Simon Thomas, fund partner, London

Appleby
Gray Smith, partner, corporate and commercial, Cayman Islands
Eliot Simpson, partner, local group head, litigation and insolvency, Cayman Islands

Brown Rudnick
Sonya Van de Graaff, partner, London
Catherine Gardner, partner, Washington
Fred Levy, partner, Washington

Cains
Daniel Mackelden, associate director, Isle of Man

Capital Management Services Group
Hannah Terhune, attorney, New York

CDF Advocates
Frank Chetcuti Dimech, partner, Malta

Conyers Dill & Pearman
Dawn Griffiths, partner, Bermuda
Robert Briant, managing partner, British Virgin Islands office
Tania Dons, associate, Cayman Islands
Richard Finlay, partner, Cayman Islands
Craig Fulton, head of the Mauritius office
Alan Dickson, managing partner, São Paulo office

Ganado & Associates
Andre Zerafa, partner, investment funds and services, Malta

Hassans
Dermot Deering, senior associate, funds, Gibraltar

Higgs Johnson Truman Bodden & Co
Wilton G McDonald II, head of investment funds department, Cayman Islands
Isolas
Joey Garcia, associate, Gibraltar

Katten Muchin Rosenman
Henry Bregstein, co-managing partner, New York

Kaye Scholer
Simon Firth, partner, London

Lovells
Nora Bullock, professional support lawyer, investment funds, London
Simon Atiyah, consultant, investment funds, London

Maples and Calder
Henry Smith, partner, Cayman Islands
Jon Fowler, partner, Cayman Islands
Nicholas Butcher, partner, Cayman Islands
Michael Richardson, associate, Cayman Islands
Matthew Crawford, associate, Cayman Islands

Mayer Brown
Angela Hayes, partner, London

Ogier
Frances Watson, advocate, Guernsey
Simon Schilder, partner, British Virgin Islands

Paul Hastings
Mitch Nichter, partner in the investment management practice, New York

Sadis & Goldberg
Ron Geffner, partner, oversees the financial services group, New York

Seward & Kissel
Steven B Nadel, partner, New York

Walkers
Jonathan Tonge, managing partner, practices, Cayman
Ingrid Pierce, partner and head of hedge funds, Cayman Islands
Robert Duggan, partner and head of hedge funds, London

Withers
John Langan, partner, London