Private fund managers need to understand what ERISA is, why ERISA matters and what exceptions are available to managers who do not want to be subject to ERISA as a manager of “plan assets.” At an event sponsored by the New York City Bar, ERISA practitioners from Simpson Thacher, Proskauer, Skadden and Wachtell Lipton discussed these issues and other ERISA-related developments applicable to organizing and operating private equity and hedge funds. The first article in this two-part series summarizes insights from the panelists on identifying benefit plan investors and exemptions available to fund managers under ERISA. The second article addresses drafting fund documents, ERISA-related liability and circumstances under which a private equity fund may be liable for unfunded pension liabilities of a portfolio company. See also “Steps Hedge Fund Managers May Take Today to Avoid Being Deemed a Fiduciary Under the DOL’s New Fiduciary Rule” (Jun. 29, 2017); “Happily Ever After? – Investment Funds That Live With ERISA, for Better and for Worse (Part Five of Five)” (Oct. 2, 2014); and “What Should Hedge Fund Managers Expect When ERISA Plans Conduct Due Diligence on and Negotiate for Investments in Their Funds?” (Jun. 20, 2013).