Hedge funds and private equity firms are laying the groundwork for a legal clash with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its bid to tighten rules on disclosing fees and dealing with investors. The rules, if adopted as proposed, would be the first time the SEC has used an authority it got after the financial crisis to force certain disclosures from money managers to their investors, said Gregory Larkin, Financial Services and Private Investment Funds partner in Washington, to Bloomberg Law.