Rowena Hill is Managing Director and General Counsel EMEA at Cleveland & Co, where she leads the firm’s regional strategy, oversees complex cross-border legal matters, and plays a pivotal role in building long-term client partnerships. With 20 years of experience in financial services law and a distinguished track record across global asset managers and investment platforms, Rowena is a respected leader in the investment management industry.
Rowena advises clients across public and private funds, corporate governance, distribution, product development, and UK and EU regulatory compliance. Her expertise spans UCITS, AIFs, institutional client servicing, regulatory and cross-border marketing. She is known for aligning legal advice with strategic commercial objectives, helping clients navigate change, unlock growth, and remain compliant in an evolving regulatory environment.
Before joining Cleveland & Co, Rowena held senior in-house leadership roles, including Head of UK Legal at Invesco, Head of Product Legal – Asset & Wealth Management at Schroders, and senior legal counsel roles at Janus Henderson and Eversheds. Across these roles, she shaped global legal strategy, led high-impact regulatory transformation programmes, and worked closely with senior executives and boards across EMEA, APAC, and North America.
Rowena’s leadership reflects Cleveland & Co’s values of clarity, excellence, and authentic partnership. She is widely respected for her organised and optimistic approach, collaborative leadership style, and focus on mentoring and developing high-performing legal teams. She has supported firm-wide growth initiatives, international expansion, and capability building, while continuing to provide clients with practical, forward-looking legal solutions.
Her wide-ranging expertise includes fund structuring and governance, IMAs, distribution and platform agreements, outsourcing and custody agreements, SMCR regime, fund registration and disclosure regimes, and FCA engagement. Rowena is also highly experienced in managing legal and regulatory risk during product launches, M&A activity, and organisational change.
Outside of work, Rowena has previously served as a Director of the London Women’s Forum. She enjoys reading, painting, and countryside walks with her family and dogs, bringing the same warmth, perspective, and energy to life outside the office as she does to her professional practice.
Rowena has a strong track record across the investment management industry globally, working with a cross section of industry professionals from Portfolio Managers through to CEOs, in EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. She has significant technical skills in:
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- ACD Agreements
- AIFM Agreements
- Approved Persons
- Auditor
- Authorisations
- Change of Control
- Commercial
- Compensation (FSCS)
- Complaint Handling
- Conflicts of Interest
- Consumer Duty
- Corporate
- Culture, Conduct Risk, Consumer Duty and TCF
- Custody Agreements
- Depositary Agreements
- Design & Disclosure Obligations and Target Market
- Director and NED Appointments
- Distribution Agreements
- Engagement Letter
- Financial Services regulation
- FOS and FSCS Exemptions
- Full Scope AIFM requirements
- Fund Administrator
- Fund Registration and UK Supplements
- Governance Arrangements
- IMAs / IAAs
- Investment Trusts
- Letters of Intent
- Management Approval Processes
- NDAs
- Outsourcing
- Platform Agreements
- Product Governance
- Product Information – General, KIIDS-UCITS, KIDs-PRIIPs)
- Prospectuses
- Remuneration Codes
- SaaS Agreements
- Service Agreements
- SMCR and COCON
- SMF Interview Training
- Sub-Distribution Arrangements
- Telephone Recording
- Terms of Reference
- Training and Competence
- Transition Management Arrangements
- UCIS / NMPIs (distribution to retail client)
- UCITS
- UK-recognised Overseas Funds
- Variation of Permission
- Director of the London Women’s Forum (previous)
- Law Society of England and Wales
- Admitted in England & Wales 2005
- Certificate in Business and Personal Coaching
- LLB King’s College London, Legal Practice Course (Nottingham Law School)
- Qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales
- English
Emma Cleveland founded Cleveland & Co in 2012 with a vision to change the shape of legal services provision, and provide clients with high-quality effective advice. With over 20 years’ experience in the investment management sector, working with blue chips such as AIG, Threadneedle, Russell Investments and Aviva Investors, she is well-placed to do so.
A tri-qualified lawyer, whose noteworthy career began in litigation at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, her broad-based expertise covers all areas of investment management: front office, middle and back office, business development, risk, compliance and legal. Emma has also played a key role in building new legal departments, creating and implementing global policies and managing international teams.
As CEO, Emma provides leadership and vision for how Cleveland & Co serves its 180+ international clients which have a combined AUM of over £4 trillion. Emma’s forethought, work ethic and energy has set the pace for a brand new way of doing business in law. Along with her innovation in the sector, Emma is paving the way for women across the industry building a successful business which has reached an entrepreneurial milestone that only 0.5% of all women in the UK are likely to achieve. Emma’s dedication, drive and superstar success is what makes Cleveland & Co the incredible company is it today.
When she is not blazing a new trail, winning new clients, opening new offices around the world or championing Diversity & Inclusion, Emma loves spending time with her husband, two daughters and golden doodle Snowball.
Emma has a strong track record across the investment management industry globally, working with a cross section of industry professionals from Portfolio Managers through to CEOs, in EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. She has significant technical skills in:
- ACD Arrangements
- Administration
- AIFs
- Appointed Representative Arrangements
- Broker agreements
- CISs
- Commercial Contracts
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Restructuring
- Corporate Sponsorship
- Custody
- Distribution
- Hedge Funds
- HR and Employment
- ICAV
- Institutional
- Intra-group Agreements
- Introducer Arrangements
- Joint Venture
- Listed Investment Companies
- M&A
- Outsourcing
- Pooled pension funds
- Private equity
- Real estate
- Regulation, including: MiFID II, Listing Rules, Competition Law
- Research Payments
- Securities Lending
- Service Agreements
- SICAV
- Sponsorship Arrangements
- Transition management
- UCITS and non-UCITS
Qualified in England & Wales, Ireland and NSW Australia
- Investment Association: act as General Counsel and advise on industry documentation, guidance and regulatory issues.
- Invesco Asset Management: advised on all aspects of building the investment legal team including drafting templates, negotiation guides and procedures, and training across EMEA.
- Canada Life Investments: advised on all aspects of fund distribution via all European platform providers, including drafting and negotiating agreements across 20 service providers.
- LaSalle Investment Management: undertook the complete review of all of real estate private equity funds, producing an extensive summary of all key terms of the underlying fund documentation.
- Columbia Threadneedle: advised on listed investment company launch, including drafting, review and negotiation of all fund documentation such as the offering memorandum and all agreements.
- Aviva Investors: advised on all aspects of investment management agreements for major clients, including structuring the overall portfolios of up to £250bn. Some were highly complex: with 140+ portfolios and various overlay strategies with separate/interdependent guidelines.
- Round Hill Capital: advised on all aspects of the asset and property management joint venture transaction between Round Hill and Starwood worth £120 million.
- Rede Partners: act as General Counsel and advised on the placement of various private equity funds including Apax France XI, HgCapital 8, PAI Europe VI and Summa Equity I for Rede Partners.
- Investment Association 2010 IMA Technical Committee
- Law Society of England and Wales
- Law Society of Ireland
- Law Society of New South Wales Australia
- Association of Women Solicitors
- 30% Club
- Bachelors degree in Commerce majoring in Finance (University of Wollongong)
- Honours Degree in Law (University of Wollongong)
- Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (College of Law, Sydney)
- Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance and Investment (Financial Services Institute of Australia)
- Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (College of Law England and Wales)
- Influencing, Persuading & Negotiating (Cambridge Legal Summer School)
- Non-Executive Director Training (Institute of Directors)
