Calfee Welcomes Musa Abdul-Basser as Senior Counsel, Investment Management Practice Group

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP is pleased to announce that Musa Abdul-Basser has joined the firm as a Senior Counsel in the Investment Management practice group. Based in the Cleveland office, Musa is an experienced capital markets, cross-border transactional and compliance attorney who counsels clients on public and private offerings, Islamic finance, investment advisor regulatory requirements and compliance/risk issues and has served in general counsel, chief legal officer and chief compliance officer roles as well as deal counsel in private practice to a wide variety of financial services entities.

Musa has dedicated his career to serving clients as a compliance professional, capital markets attorney, Islamic finance practitioner and executive manager. He has deep experience in the compliance/risk and legal fields, with overall oversight of functions as a chief compliance officer and chief legal officer. He has spearheaded sophisticated private and public securities offerings in the EU, U.K. and U.S. and has more than a decade of experience with structuring, advising and executing innovative Islamic finance transactions and products.

“I’m excited to join such a vibrant and dynamic investment management practice and add my efforts to those of the distinguished legal professionals here at Calfee to better serve our clients,” stated Musa.

Immediately prior to joining Calfee, Musa served as Chief Legal Officer and Global General Counsel at Wahed Inc. and as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Wahed Invest LLC (New York, New York), a multinational FinTech company that creates innovative, web-based and digital applications technology for affordable investments focused on ethical investing. As Global General Counsel, Musa helped expand regulated subsidiaries into multinational markets, including the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan. He negotiated, drafted and advised on complex joint venture, acquisition and business transactions and managed the global legal and compliance teams. He also advised on all capital markets, regulatory and private equity efforts and had responsibility for corporate governance and advised on strategy and legal risk mitigation.

Musa also previously served as Senior Vice President, Legal Operations with the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation in Malaysia; Vice President, Legal Affairs & Shariah Compliance, The Datestone Group LLC in New York; Senior Associate, International Corporate Department with Curtis Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP in New York; Associate, Corporate Finance Department with Chadbourne & Parke LLP in New York; and as an Associate, Structured Finance Department with Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP in New York.

Musa earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. in Government (International Relations) from Wesleyan University. Musa earned a Certificate in Islamic Finance from the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF). He is admitted to practice in New York and in Ohio for Practice Pending Admission.

“The depth and breadth of expertise Musa brings to the Investment Management practice is invaluable for Calfee and our clients,” stated Patrick D. Hayes, Chair of the Investment Management practice group. “Keeping pace with the SEC and global regulatory frameworks is a significant hurdle for most firms, but Calfee alleviates this burden at every stage of the firm’s lifecycle – from inception through the ongoing administration and supervision of the firm’s compliance program. Musa’s dedication to serving clients of all types and sizes and addressing their legal and compliance needs makes him a perfect fit for Calfee.”  

Calfee’s Investment Management practice group delivers sophisticated counsel for registered investment advisers and broker dealers to navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape of asset and wealth management.

Providing expert counsel to the investment management industry is in Calfee’s DNA, with the firm’s history boasting attorneys who have held the very highest positions at the SEC. Calfee's dedicated Investment Management attorneys provide exceptional service and problem-solving expertise regarding all aspects of the public and private securities markets, including asset management, wealth management, fund formation, transactional, regulatory compliance, and enforcement matters for registered and nonregistered persons.

Calfee’s Investment Management practice is comprehensive, working with a depth and breadth of financial professionals unmatched by most Midwest law firms.

"Calfee is committed to continue its successful growth by strategically recruiting top-tier legal talent," said Thomas M. Welsh, Managing Partner of Calfee. "Musa has already proven to be an important member of our internationally recognized Investment Management group, and his addition to the firm reflects Calfee’s ongoing investment in high-demand practice areas. We are proud to welcome Musa to the firm."

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP is a full-service, corporate law firm with attorneys located in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Washington, D.C. As a founding member of Lex Mundi, Calfee also offers international representation through a network of independent law firms with 22,000 attorneys in more than 125 countries.

Since 1903, Calfee's mission has been to provide meaningful legal and business counsel on matters that are critical to the success of our clients. Calfee lawyers routinely represent a wide spectrum of private and public organizations – from emerging companies to Fortune 500 corporations – as well as government entities, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and individuals.

Calfee is consistently ranked as one of the top law firms in Ohio and continues to receive recognition, both nationally and regionally, from a number of leading industry publications.