Case Study: Specialized Corporate Legal Support

Capital Dynamics is an independent global asset management firm focusing on private assets, including private equity (primaries, secondaries, co-investments), private credit, and clean energy. Created in 1988, Capital Dynamics has extensive knowledge and experience developing solutions tailored to meet the exacting needs of a diverse and global client base of institutional and private wealth investors. As of Q3 2021, Capital Dynamics oversees more than USD 13 billion in assets under management and advisement, and employs approximately 160 professionals globally across 14 offices  in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia.

Challenge:

A globally operating private equity firm such as Capital Dynamics has constant demand for legal advice, both in respect of corporate matters relating to the group as well as the firm’s product offerings and investments. Capital Dynamics currently employs a team of 14 legal and compliance professionals in Zug, New York, London, Luxembourg, Milano and Tokyo, who have each worked for several years at internally renowned law firms and/or asset managers.

In 2020, Capital Dynamics initiated a project that required expert corporate legal and M&A skills. As timing of completion and close alignment with the group’s General Counsel was key, and there was limited internal legal staff available to support at the time, Capital Dynamics reached out to Interim Legal for support.

Bridging a gap in specialized legal work:

As a specialist provider of on-demand legal support, Interim Legal partnered with the General Counsel of Capital Dynamics to understand the level of expertise and cultural fit that was required to support the project. Being able to identify the areas of skill and expertise attached to Capital Dynamics’s specific needs, Interim Legal helped Capital Dynamics save time on their search and build trust as a business partner.

The proposed lawyer, who possessed M&A and corporate legal expertise in Switzerland as well as internationally, was able to support the General Counsel from day one. Acting as a senior legal counsel working in tandem with the General Counsel, the legal team was able to execute the necessary tasks and successfully complete the project on time.

Outcome:

This was the first time the General Counsel at Capital Dynamics engaged an alternative legal services provider to seek interim legal support for a specific project. Interim Legal was able to quickly build trust by understanding the type of skillset and experience needed and delivering high-quality legal talent efficiently.

• It permitted Capital Dynamics to hire expert legal counsel on very short notice to complete a project in a specialized area of law.
• It helped reduce dependency on outside counsel and deliver comparative savings against law firm rates.
• Having legal support on hand in-house through completion of the project ensured full alignment with the relevant stakeholders and allowed the legal team to deliver quality legal advice effectively within the business.

Interim Legal’s ability to identify specialized legal talent on demand has made us re-think our legal services provider model where we require expert legal support for specific projects on short notice.

Harald Zeiter Group General Counsel, Capital Dynamics