David Layden

David Layden* is a partner in Dechert’s financial services practice, working across the Dublin and London offices, where he plays a leading role in Dechert’s Global Private Funds Team. He advises on the structuring, establishment, management and marketing of a broad range of investment funds and fund platforms across all major jurisdictions for UK, US and European asset managers. His work spans the full lifecycle of fund formation and management, including ongoing general corporate, compliance and regulatory matters. He is recognized in The Legal 500 as a key lawyer, with clients noting: “David Layden - clear thinker and very strong in his ability to translate complex concepts into understandable drafting.”

Mr. Layden’s practice places a particular emphasis on advising fund sponsors on their ability to raise capital using innovative and bespoke fund structures, including open-ended, closed-ended, hybrid and continuation vehicle structures, across asset classes encompassing private credit, private equity, real estate and special situations. He has developed recognized expertise in evergreen funds investing in illiquid assets and in the establishment of separately managed account (SMA) arrangements for major institutional investors.

Mr. Layden advises both established institutional sponsors and start-up managers on the design and implementation of carried interest and upper tier incentive structuring arrangements, helping clients to create competitive and tax-efficient incentive frameworks tailored to their business and global footprint. He also advises on fundraising solutions for insurance investors, including structures designed to meet the specific regulatory and capital treatment requirements of insurance capital.

Mr. Layden also provides investor-side advice in connection with investments into a range of fund structures and asset classes.

Mr. Layden qualified as a solicitor in 2017 and began his career at Dechert’s London office, where he trained as a private funds lawyer over seven years. He relocated to the Dublin office at the beginning of 2024 to help grow Dechert’s Irish private funds team and was promoted to partner in 2026.

He is co-author of the “Ireland” chapter of Sweet & Maxwell’s Law and Regulation of Investment Management (3rd ed.) and co-authored the “Ireland” and “Hybrid Funds” chapters of Sweet & Maxwell’s Hedge Funds and the Law (3rd ed.). He is closely involved with AIMA and other industry bodies.

Mr. Layden holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College Dublin (2013) and is admitted to practice in Ireland and England & Wales.

^{*David is a partner of Dechert LLP, registered in Ireland, and Dechert LLP, registered in Pennsylvania, USA. Although he maintains an office location in London, he is not a partner of Dechert LLP, a separate LLP incorporated in England and Wales (SRA ID: 389648).}