Jessica Panza's practice is focused on counseling private equity fund sponsors, investment advisors, and institutional investors on the structuring, formation, and operation of private investment funds and related arrangements such as co-investments, managed accounts, funds-of-one, joint ventures, and other custom investment structures. She has advised clients across the globe on every aspect of an investment vehicle's life cycle and the legal, regulatory, and compliance issues involved at each stage — from initial structuring and formation (including internal compensation, carried interest, and governance arrangements) through ongoing operational matters and culminating with asset disposition and dissolution. Her work also involves advising on portfolio investments, co-investments, and secondary transactions. Jessica's experience spans multiple asset classes, including buyout, real estate, infrastructure, growth equity, venture capital, private credit, secondaries, and fund-of-funds.
Jessica also regularly represents institutional investors in connection with primary and secondary investments, co-investments, separate accounts, and direct investment opportunities. She also advises clients on regulatory and securities issues, strategic relationships, corporate governance, and other general corporate matters.
Some of the clients Jessica works with include Franklin Park, LaSalle Investment Management, MARK Capital Management Limited (f.k.a. Meyer Bergman Limited), Morgenthaler Partners, the private equity arm of a global sovereign investors, U.S. and non-U.S.-based family offices, The Riverside Company, The Townsend Group, and Whitman Peterson Partners.
In community matters, Jessica volunteers for and serves on the board of directors for the Law Center for Better Housing, a Chicago-based, nonprofit agency that supports tenants' rights through providing legal and other supportive services.
Experience
- University of Illinois (J.D. summa cum laude 2007; Order of the Coif; Managing Editor, Illinois Business Law Journal; Symposium Editor, Law Review); University of Notre Dame (B.B.A. summa cum laude 2004)
- Illinois