Flat-Fee, Fractional Investment Counsel Embedded in Your Investment Office

1,000+ deals closed over 27 years, including 18 years at Notre Dame's $22B endowment.

Serving endowments, healthcare systems, and other investment advisors managing $500M–$10B+. Fund agreements, diligence, and compliance handled inside your workflow, without Big Law fees, delays, or adding a full-time hire.

TALK WITH STEPHANIE

Legal That Speaks Your Language

When outside counsel needs three calls to understand a subscription credit facility, you’re wasting time and money. When they mark up standard side letters like hostile-takeover documents, you’re losing momentum.

Investment offices need counsel who already knows:

  • The importance of the investment team’s relationship with fund managers

  • Which waterfall provisions actually affect returns

  • Why your committee won’t meet just because a GP wants to close

  • When regulatory issues are real versus when they’re a stalling tactic

  • How to push back on terms without killing the relationship

I’ve handled this work for more than two decades—first at Notre Dame, now for endowments, foundations, and other institutional investors nationwide. Your team explains the opportunity once. I handle the legal complexity. You stay focused on performance.

I’m Stephanie Pries

After 18 years building and running legal operations at Notre Dame's endowment—helping it grow from $5B to $22B—I founded Endowment Legal Services to bring this same expertise to institutions nationwide.

With over 1,000 private fund deals closed, today I work directly with investment teams managing portfolios from $500M to multi-billion in scale. My practice covers private equity negotiations, hedge fund structures, real asset transactions, and regulatory compliance.

Previously, I practiced at Silicon Valley law firms and served as Vice President at the Managed Funds Association in D.C., advocating for the hedge fund industry.

Each client gets the same thing: senior counsel who already understands institutional investing, speaks your language, and protects your portfolio.

Stephanie Pries, Endowment Legal Counsel, in blue blazer

  • Stephanie’s insight on a single trade helped us make ~$100M. When she launched Endowment Legal Services, we hired her immediately.

    — Current Client

What I Handle

(So you can focus on investment performance)

  • Review and summarize LPAs and offering memoranda. Identify material risks and negotiation points. Deliver clear, actionable recommendations for your investment committee.

  • Handle the entire onboarding sequence: operational due diligence, DDQs that actually get answered, NDAs that protect your interests, side letters that secure your rights, IMAs that work with your custody setup, and subscription docs that pass compliance review the first time.

  • Respond to MFN elections, amendments and consents, custodian administrator or 3rd party compliance requests, verify service provider relationships, manage KYC/AML updates, and similar requests related to investee funds or internal governance matters (e.g., ESG compliance).

  • Keep your team ahead of regulatory and legislative changes through my weekly memos (e.g., endowment tax hike, “countries of concern” regulation/legislation), and other policy shifts impacting institutional investors. Will monitor marketplace matters that also impact your investments and help craft solutions for your team (e.g., Silicon Valley Bank episode).

  • Build out and organize document storage systems in your RMS, create legal data tracking for key fund terms, develop policy manuals, and streamline legal workflows.

  • As a member of your team, I stand available for any urgent fund requests, co-investment opportunities and/or unexpected manager situations—and ensure they are resolved fast.

Download our Sample Statement of Work
to see the full scope of services included in your flat fee.

Flat-Fee. No surprises.

How It Works

  1. Consultation:

    We review your legal needs, deal flow, and compliance requirements.

  2. Integration:

    I integrate directly into your workflow—email, document portals, whatever your office already uses.

  3. Ongoing Counsel

    Fund reviews, diligence, and compliance handled at a senior-counsel level for one flat annual fee

You get expert legal counsel—on call and in sync with your team—for one transparent flat fee based on your AUM.

No clock-watching. No unexpected invoices.

Why Clients Trust Me

Most lawyers treat investment work like any other legal project. I built Endowment Legal Services because capital markets don't wait for legal to catch up.

  • Lived Your Reality. You get counsel who's been inside an investment office—not someone learning from client memos.

  • See Around Corners. I flag risks that could impact performance three years out, not just obvious issues today.

  • Always Current. I track regulatory shifts, tax policy, and compliance changes before they hit your portfolio.

  • Direct Access & Speed. I understand your deal timelines, your fiduciary pressure, and your performance accountability. When you need answers, you get me—immediately.

You get a legal partner who knows exactly how Investment Banks and Big Law negotiate—because I've sat across from them a thousand times.

In the Media

  • Dialogue Diligence podcast — “Sustaining Missions, Mitigating Risks”

    Listen 🎧

  • Elite university endowments confront a ‘parade of horribles’

    Read 📝

  • New Law Firm Aims to Sign Endowments

    Read 📝

  • Legal hurdles could block Trump’s climate nonprofit tax threat

    Read 📝

  • Fund Jurisdictions: Should Investors Worry?

    Read 📝

Start the Conversation

Contact me to schedule your complimentary consultation.

No obligation. No sales pitch.