My partner and I have been lending hard money as a side business are we are looking to scale.  We've interviewed a few attorneys, but have yet to find a good mix of availability, experience (with hard money or debt funds, most are syndication attorneys), and price.  We've been quoted $20k, $25k, and $30k for Reg D funds and we are reading that $15-20k is not uncommon.  Some of the attorneys have extensive experience with syndications, but far less with debt funds. (To be clear, price is a consideration but ultimately a nominal expense if we scale even remotely close to our goal, so we're weighing other traits above pricing).

While we're exploring the rules, regs, costs, etc of creating a fund, we're also looking into partials and possibly note hypothecation as a short term alternative. It seems like there is a very fine line separating partials from being a security (some would argue no line at all according to some threads here) and we've yet to find a securities attorney with any experience with partials. 

Any attorney recommendations in one or both of those areas is greatly appreciated.