The Regulatory Compliance Association recently held its Compliance, Risk & Enforcement 2013 Symposium (Symposium), at which regulators and hedge fund industry experts offered insights on relevant regulatory, compliance and operational topics.  This first installment of a three-part series covering the Symposium summarizes two sessions, one on conducting effective risk assessments for hedge fund managers (including discussions of forensic testing and testing for insider trading, order allocations and best execution), and the other incorporating current and former government officials’ perspectives on expert networks, political intelligence, insider trading investigations and prosecutions and valuation-related conflicts of interest.  The second installment will summarize salient points from the keynote address by Andrew Bowden, Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and a session addressing challenges for fund distribution raised by the JOBS Act, broker registration issues and the AIFMD.  The third installment will summarize key points from two sessions, one on compliance best practices for use of expert networks, valuation, custody and expense allocation, and another on fund administrator shadowing.