Bryan Chegwidden

Background

Chegwidden's formative academic years were spent in Connecticut. He completed his undergraduate education at Trinity College in Hartford, the state capital, before entering Yale Law School in New Haven.

Education

Chegwidden earned a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, a private liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded as Washington College in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in Connecticut after Yale University. The college has been coeducational since 1969, and his undergraduate studies there were grounded in the liberal arts tradition. He is documented as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society associated with that tradition.

He then studied at Yale Law School, the law school of Yale University in New Haven, which was established in 1824. Its three-year J.D. program enrolled approximately 200 students per class during the period of his studies. While a student, he served as an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation, and he received his Juris Doctor in 1987.

Career

Chegwidden has practiced as a partner at Ropes & Gray LLP, whose investment management practice serves asset managers, mutual fund families, and independent fund directors. Legal 500 describes the group as regular counsel to over 2,000 registered funds of all types, or their independent directors.

He was the head of the firm's New York office from its founding in 2001 until 2011. He later served as partner and global head of the firm's asset management group, a role the firm's profile describes as a former position in later years.

His practice centers on investment fund formation and management, including organizing alternative investment products such as hedge funds, private equity funds, and funds of funds. The firm's profile also describes his cross-border advice, with emphasis on non-U.S. matters, and his work on registered fund and securities issues.

In 2024, Kids in Need of Defense named the firm's team, which Chegwidden co-led with private equity partner Sam Levitt, its Pro Bono Team of the Year for assisting undocumented youth in applying for legal status. He was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1987 and in New York in 2004.

Achievements

• Co-led the Ropes & Gray team that Kids in Need of Defense recognized as its 2024 Pro Bono Team of the Year for helping undocumented youth apply for legal status in two difficult cases.

Works

• article

  • Share Class Structures for Mutual Funds/ETFs: How Fund Groups Can Begin Preparing for Anticipated SEC Exemptive Relief

    (Co-authored article dated March 17, 2025, addressing how ...)

    2025

Membership

Chegwidden was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society that recognizes academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, following his Trinity College studies.

• Phi Beta Kappa

References

• Ropes & Gray LLP attorney profile: Bryan Chegwidden Firm biography describing his partnership, his leadership of the New York office from 2001 to 2011, his asset management role, and his education and bar admissions.
• Chambers USA Lawyer profile describing his practice in registered funds and investment management.
  2025
• Best Lawyers Peer-review profile describing his practice in mutual funds law and his 2023 Lawyer of the Year designation.