Karen Liu
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Head of Corporate & Fund FormationNew YorkPhone +1 (212) 858-9968kliu@reidwise.com |
| Karen Z. Liu is head of the firm' s Corporate & Fund Formation practice. Karen regularly advises onshore and offshore private funds and their sponsors on fund formation and ongoing operational and compliance legal matters. Karen also has extensive experience in counseling companies and founders on business formation, corporate governance and general corporate matters, debt and equity financing, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and inbound and outbound investments. In addition, investor clients routinely seek Karen for advice on various domestic and cross-border investment and transactional legal matters. Karen has earned the designations of Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP®) and FINRA Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP®) and passed the NASAA Series 66 exam administered by FINRA. Karen has also been awarded a Certificate of Specialization in Finance and Accounting by Harvard Business School Online. Karen holds a degree in economics and has extensive legal experience both in the U.S. and in China. Clients leverage her unique economics background and multi-jurisdictional legal experience. Karen is keen on understanding the business essence and legal concerns of each corporate, investment, and fund formation project, so as to provide clients with customized and practical legal services. Karen serves the American Bar Association as Chair of the Sustainable Reporting Standards Subcommittee and Co-Chair of the Corporate Governance Subcommittee of the Corporate Sustainability Law Committee. Karen is a board member of the Business Law Today Editorial Board. Karen is also a prolific author of various articles on securities law, sustainability law, EB-5 investments, and corporate law. Before joining Reid & Wise, Karen worked at the New York offices of Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP and MagStone Law, LLP, focusing on fund formation, investment management, private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cross-border reorganization transactions, and general corporate matters. Prior to that, Karen worked at Steptoe LLP, an AmLaw 100 firm, focusing on cross-border corporate, compliance and transactional legal matters as well as international arbitration. Karen has been recognized by Thomson Reuters as a New York Metro Super Lawyer in 2025. Representation Highlights: - Advised onshore and offshore sponsors on formation of real estate funds in the U.S.; - Advised regional centers and fund managers on formation of EB-5 funds in the U.S.; - Advised formation of various hedge funds and VC funds with different strategies; - Advised startup companies on SAFEs, convertible notes, and equity financing rounds; - Advised various clients on stock or asset acquisitions/sales; - Conducted due diligence on various U.S. entities and drafted due diligence reports and legal opinions in connection with financing or M&A deals or upper-tier parents’ IPOs; - Advised various investment advisers on regulatory matters such as investment adviser registration, CFTC registration, Sections 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) compliance, cross-trade transactions, Marketing Rule compliance, and Sections 13 and 16 filings; - Advised a private equity fund on fund formation, co-investments and secondary purchases; - Advised a hybrid fund on fund formation and then on restructuring the fund from a close-ended fund into an open-ended fund; - Advised GPs and investment managers on business formation, operating agreements and profit-sharing agreements; - Advised investment managers on investment management agreements for commingled funds or separately management accounts; - Advised a U.S. company on global reorganization using a VIE structure; and - Advised a U.S. company on spin-off of a business unit. |
Practices Education Bar Admission Certification |