Rimon Partner Nicole Kalajian – Modernizing the Legal Field – Published by Insight Success

Insight Success have released their complete digital report, Women in Charge: 10 Influential Leaders in the Legal World. July 2023, Rimon Partner, Nicole Kalajian was recognized on the list. Her interview with the magazine titled Nicole Kalajian: Modernizing the Legal Field is below. Congratulations, Nicole!

Inventing a New Paradigm for Legal Services!

For centuries, the legal profession has been known for its rigid structures and hierarchical systems. But as society evolves, so too must the legal profession. A new era is dawning in which clients for legal services are requesting innovative solutions and fresh approaches. For those at the forefront of these developments, this shift is revolutionizing the legal industry, resulting in tremendous benefits for clients and attorneys alike.

Nicole Kalajian is one such attorney leading the charge in this new era of legal practice. With a passion for empowerment and direct engagement, Nicole is shaping a new paradigm in which creativity and innovation are the norms rather than the exceptions. As a Partner at Rimon Law, a highly selective, full-service, global law firm, Nicole is committed to providing consistent excellence, teamwork, and innovation across five continents.

For Nicole, this philosophy is not just a business strategy – it’s a way of life. She believes that every lawyer-client relationship should work to align mutual values and goals. Each client and team member is different – so too should be the solutions.  By fostering an environment of flexibility and creativity, Nicole is fostering a more diverse, inclusive legal industry that can better serve the needs of all clients.

But Kalajian’s impact extends beyond just her clients. She is also a respected thought leader in the investment management industry, regularly publishing articles and speaking on panels about the latest trends and developments in the field. Her insights and expertise are highly valued by her peers, who look to Nicole for guidance on how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the investment management industry.

Nicole Kalajian serves an instrumental role in creating a bright new future for the legal sector. Her vision of fostering a more flexible, innovative, and inclusive legal profession seeks to better meet the needs of both clients and practitioners by pushing for changes that are long over-due. Nicole’s work has been applauded by a wide breadth of participants and is gaining significant traction across the legal industry, both domestically and internationally.

We sat down to talk to Nicole Kalajian, Partner at Rimon Law and award-winning investment management attorney. During her illustrious career, Ms. Kalajian has received numerous accolades (i.e., too many to list here), including receiving the Super Lawyers Rising Star award (for five consecutive years) and being named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Law of 2022! But Nicole doesn’t want to rest on her laurels.  Instead, she strives to continually shape a new era for the legal industry as a whole. One in which attorneys are given the freedom to adapt their working practices to their unique client needs, as well as their own lives and passions.

The Investment Management Law Expert

Nicole is passionate about investment management law. Her days are spent helping investment advisers, commodity trading advisors, and robo-advisers navigate regulatory, compliance, and business matters. She also proudly assists with the development and launch of new investment products, such as hedges, commodities, real estate, ESG, and cryptocurrency funds. Nicole also regularly works with high-net-worth investors, family offices, and institutional investors in connection with various investment considerations.

Since Nicole is passionate about helping clients understand and analyze their legal, compliance, and regulatory responsibilities, as well as creating new structures, her days are incredibly varied. One day, she’ll be working with a client to draft private fund offering documentation, and the next is helping a family office establish its own advisory practices. Investment law is not solely a pursuit but rather a vocation. Nicole is honoured to contribute to her clients’ constant progression and prosperity, as well as that of their investors.  For Nicole, her clients are like family – the family that stays together, grows together.

Bridging the Gap Between Investment Advisers and Legal Professionals

As Nicole worked in the finance and accounting division of a real estate development firm, Nicole pursued her undergraduate degree with a double major in honors finance and honors economics with a minor in accounting. Her interest in finance was solidified by this experience and coursework.  Her interest in law then began after she enrolled in a business law course. It was then that Nicole recognized her vocation – the liaison between the investment services industry and the law.  This realization prompted Nicole to pursue a Juris Doctorate in Law, as well as a Masters in Financial Services Law (LLM), with a side focus in international law.

Once an investment law attorney, Nicole was quickly immersed in the fast-paced world of the ever-changing financial industry. Collaborating with her firm, Nicole provided valuable assistance to clients in navigating the aftermath of significant events such as the MF Global failure and the collapse of Peregrine Financial Group. She also played a crucial role in addressing the impact of regulatory modifications on advisers in both the securities and commodities arenas. Nicole’s contributions to numerous legal periodicals and panels during this period further solidified her expertise in this field.

Given her highly unique expertise in both securities and commodities law, Nicole has been instrumental in guiding the cryptocurrency arena through a complex regulatory framework. As a significant contributor to the formation of the Global DCA, a voluntary organization catering to digital asset providers, Nicole played a vital role in navigating the organization’s initial legal challenges. Additionally, Nicole organized numerous roundtables and conferences to discuss the ever-evolving regulatory landscape of cryptocurrency.

As the investment management sector continues to undergo rapid transformation, Nicole always strives to stay ahead of the curve for the benefit of her clients.

End Burnout with Innovation

Nicole is thrilled to have join the exceptional roster of attorneys at Rimon.  Just like Nicole, Rimon is a highly innovation law firm that strives to break away from outdated customs in the legal field. The industry is notorious for consuming and discarding numerous talented individuals, with uncompromising billable hours, black-box compensation, and one-model-fits-all client approach.  Unlike the status quo, Rimon seeks to an end the cycle of attorney burnout and departure, and thus dissatisfaction at the job.

Rimon’s team is composed of brilliant, transformative minds eager to shift the paradigm.  Rimon offers a high degree of autonomy amongst its legal practitioners, which approach is highly unique in the legal industry.  Rimon is determined to counter the high burnout rate that affects all attorneys, and disproportionately affects women in particular. Rimon’s business model intentionally allows Partners and team members to steer their own career paths. The ultimate goal is to foster greater inclusivity of diverse talent, as well as a team of attorneys actually excited to practice law. This novel approach, exclusive to Rimon Law, fosters a culture of limited competition, thereby resulting in enhanced cooperation and service quality.

Among other unique attributes, Rimon stands out in the legal industry for its unique approach to billing, scheduling, and operations. Unlike many other firms, Rimon allows its attorneys to set their own rates, work hours, and practices, thus giving them complete autonomy. Under the Rimon umbrella, these attorneys operate as independent team members, working flexibly and responsively to meet the varied needs of their clients. This approach benefits both the attorneys and their clients, allowing for better budget control and a more tailored approach to legal services.

Disrupting 600 Years of Bad Habits

Rimon is delighted to disrupt 600 years of bad habits that run rampant in the legal industry.  Outside Rimon, toxic competition among attorneys, wasted money on extravagant offices, and stifling bureaucracy prevents many talented lawyers from building careers they love. Attorneys often feel trapped between chronic dissatisfaction to crippling burnout, as opposed to a passionate devotion to their clients and interests.

Headquartered internationally, in the cloud, Rimon is highly adaptable and agile; thus fulfilling client needs by fostering international daily collaboration. Rimon’s approach resonates with traditional and progressive clients alike, as well attorneys disenchanted with old-school law firm operations.

Traditional law firms are simply out of touch. The old way of legal work favors individuals with little to no family or personal commitments.  Those who are willing to work unnecessarily long hours billing clients for the time they sit at their work desk instead of for the actual value provided. That’s not a smart way to practice law. Many talented people simply don’t want to work this way any longer, nor do their clients who get stuck with the unnecessary cost and inefficiencies. The old way is particularly frustrating for modern businesses, such as asset managers, tech and digital businesses, who are unable to obtain legal assistance that fits their needs and practices.

Best Global-Tech Enabled Law Firm

Rimon is also dedicated to vastly progressing all aspects of work, from allowing employees to set their own schedules to utilizing a cloud-based approach to complete legal tasks. Rimon’s commitment to innovation and the re-imaging of work itself has earned significant recognition. Amongst various accolades, Rimon has been named the Best Global-Tech Enabled Law Firm USA 2023 by New World Report. As a leader in this regard, Rimon consistently employs cutting-edge technology to benefit clients with re-envisioned work-streams, back-offices and research capabilities. Rimon also makes significant investments in top-of-the-line processing, storage, and privacy systems, etc.

Ever-Expanding Capabilities

Rimon is a global, full-service law firm with a network of 47 offices spanning across 11 countries in 5 continents. As such, Rimon’s team of legal experts regularly assist with a wide net of international work, ranging from real estate, corporate, M&A, intellectual property, entertainment, manufacturing, ERISA, tax, privacy law, etc. Rimon has also developed a distinctive international alliance network that provides access to necessary local expertise on a global scale, thus extending its legal expertise and coverage far beyond its existing attorney base.

Rimon’s goal is to reach 200 lawyers by the end of the 2023 and achieve AMLaw 200 status. In line with these goals, Rimon is currently recruiting approximately five lawyers per month, most of whom come from big-law. While growth remains a goal to increase client coverage, emphasis is also placed on educating the market about Rimon’s novel and improved approach – an approach that doesn’t require rigid schedules or daily office attendance. Plus, the firm provides its attorneys/staff with top-of-the-line technical and back-office support, regardless of chosen work locations.

In light of the above, Nicole regularly reminds her clients, “Your track record isn’t the only key to success. Who you surround yourself with can make a huge difference to your expansion. It’s important to understand early on that you – as an investment adviser – only have so much time in your day, which is best spent making investments and bringing in more investors to help your business expand. Thus, having the right team on your side to help navigate the process is crucial.” Rimon is such a team.

Further, Rimon has a strong focus on expanding its reach in Latin America. Juan Zuniga, Rimon’s Managing Partner (who happens to be Hispanic), is a pioneer – intent to bring Rimon to a new level of excellence and breadth, as well as into new territories. His vast experience, network and valuable insights have been instrumental in guiding the firm’s expansion plans, with the goal to further cover clients’ cross-border needs. This is an area the firm is eager to diversify into and excited to expand further.

Nicole Kalajian is a Chicago-based attorney who focuses her practice on investment management. Ms. Kalajian represents securities and commodities professionals in a variety of regulatory, compliance and corporate matters. She has extensive experience advising private fund clients, including hedge funds, commodity pools, cryptocurrency funds, fund of funds, socially responsible investment vehicles, venture capital funds, private equity funds and real estate funds…Read more