Stacy H. Louizos

Biography

CO-CHAIR, INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT GROUP

Stacy Louizos represents registered investment companies and their independent directors and investment advisers and serves as Co-Chair of Blank Rome’s Investment Management group. She is also co-leader of the firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) team.

For more than 25 years, she has advised clients on a broad range of matters relating to the operation of investment companies of all kinds, including the organization and offering of open-end and closed-end investment companies; mergers of individual mutual funds and of fund complexes; and board governance, compliance, and other regulatory matters under the federal securities laws.

Stacy has extensive fund formation experience and has worked with a variety of registered fund products. She is also known and has been recognized nationally for counseling fund boards. She has served as fund counsel and/or counsel to the independent directors of fund complexes of all sizes, including a number of large and well-known fund groups.

A leading attorney in her field, Stacy has been recommended in The Legal 500 United States and was most recently recognized in Chambers USA 2024 in the Registered Funds - Nationwide category. Her clients said she “is remarkable in her ability to help the board navigate very complicated issues,” and her “knowledge and experience is excellent.”

She was also named a “Notable Woman in Law” by Crain’s New York Business and one of the “10 Women Leading the ’40 Act Legal Space” by Fund Board Views. She is a regular speaker and writer and is frequently quoted on topics such as board governance, fund best practices, and cybersecurity.

Experience

Stacy’s experience includes counseling clients in the following areas:

  • Board governance and best practices, as well as with respect to the duties of directors/trustees under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
  • 15(c) advisory contract approval and renewal processes. 
  • Advising on a wide variety of registered fund products, including: exchange-traded funds, alternative investment funds, umbrella series trusts, variable annuity insurance funds, funds of funds (including asset allocation and target date funds), manager of managers and other adviser/sub-adviser structures, master-feeder funds, business development companies, and money market funds. 
  • Regulatory and industry matters, including risk management oversight, cybersecurity, distribution, D&O insurance policies, valuation, derivatives, and fund liquidity risk management programs.
  • Counseling fund management and fund boards on crisis management and other complex or unique issues.
  • Reorganizations and liquidations of funds.
  • Organization and registration of registered investment advisers and counseling with respect to their duties under federal and state law.
  • Counseling on SEC examination, investigation, and enforcement matters, as well as with respect to mutual fund litigation, including shareholder derivative suits and mutual fund class actions.
  • Advising the insurance companies on regulations relating to their investments.
  • Advise companies on their status under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Recognitions

  • 2024, Registered Funds - Nationwide, listed in Chambers USA
  • 2022, “10 Women Leading the '40 Act Legal Space,” named by Fund Board Views
  • 2018, “Recognised Practitioner” Investment Funds: Registered Funds - Nationwide, listed in Chambers USA 
  • 2011–2021, Investment Fund Formation and Management: Mutual/Registered Funds, listed in The Legal 500 United States
  • 2019, “Notable Woman in Law,” named by Crain's New York Business 

Affiliations

Memberships

  • District of Columbia Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association
  • Virginia Bar Association
Professional Activities

Stacy has been a member of various organizations, including:

  • Advisory Panel, Fund Directions, a mutual fund industry publication
  • Member, Investment Company Institute’s Outside Counsel Advisory Group
  • Member, Women’s Investment Management Forum 
  • Member, 100 Women in Finance; organizer and moderator of educational events for the Connecticut chapter.
  • Additionally, Stacy serves on the board of directors of The Avon Theatre Film Center and of the ESU, and on the advisory board of The Way of the Rain, Inc.

Credentials

Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • New York
  • Virginia

Education

  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, BA
  • Washington & Lee School of Law, JD