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Liz Schubert
Investment Funds Partner | Global Co-Chair OTC Derivatives Group | Sidley Austin LLP
Liz Schubert is a Partner at Sidley Austin LLP, where she specializes in derivatives transactions for investment management clients. She is recognized as a leading lawyer in her field and is the founding member of Sidley’s Buy Side Derivatives practice. Additionally, she serves as the global co-chair of Sidley’s Derivatives industry group, which has received numerous accolades, including top-tier rankings in Chambers USA.
Her expertise includes advising some of the largest investment managers on various aspects of derivatives trading, encompassing a wide range of strategies such as long/short equity, private equity, and digital assets. Schubert has been acknowledged as one of the world’s top lawyers in Private Funds by Who’s Who Legal since 2018. She is also a key member of Sidley’s Investment Funds practice, which has been recognized as "Law Firm of the Year" in Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®.
Schubert is known for her in-depth knowledge of regulatory and market developments, which informs her work and allows her to provide strategic guidance to her clients. She frequently speaks at industry events, enhancing her reputation as a market leader in her area of expertise.123
Highlights
With BTC pushing its ATH, this news should not be a big surprise. Trading options and futures on BTC and ETH can be a nice option for an institutional investment manager that wants exposure to digital assets without negotiating new trading agreements. Futures and options on BTC and ETH can be documented using a client’s existing futures customer agreement with a short side letter of terms that apply to digital assets. My colleagues Kate Lashley, Andrew S. and I have been wondering when we would see a resurgence of interest in this product from our investment management clients.
While cross margining can provide benefits like margin relief and reduce the administrative burden of multiple margin calls, cross margining creates counterparty risk issues. Cross margining can make it hard to determine whether a client has posted more margin than it needs to. Also, in a counterparty insolvency, vital questions are: what is the size of your claim and which entities were holding your assets at the time of insolvency. Granting of cross liens can make these questions hard to answer and may delay recovery against an insolvent financial institution.
