In the private equity world, power shifts between general partners and limited partners depending on where they sit and where they're at in a cycle. Remember the technology downturn? For a good long while after the tech bubble burst, 'twas a season for cutbacks, givebacks and paybacks. With venture capital portfolios awash in red, VC folks were downsizing and scrambling to meet clawbacks after overly optimistic profit-taking. LPs milked it for what it was worth, at least to the extent they could.

This time around, the fallout is bigger and more widespread. It's not just venture capital that's feeling pressured, it's private equity. It's pretty much every GP across the board.

Judging from the meeting organized by the Institutional Limited Partners Association Tuesday, March 30, in New York, the LPs want to elevate the dialogue -- to the industry level. But it is just a dialogue. Partly because there is less capital to go around for new funds against the backdrop of a vastly different environment, the give and take between GPs and LPs has become much more complex.

Given where things stand today, ILPA, an industry trade group which has grown in size and clout over the years, has been trying to flex its muscles, perhaps in more ways than it had before. And, not surprisingly, some private equity folks don't like it. Last fall ILPA members, comprising public and private pension funds, endowments, sovereign funds and the like, endorsed tighter principles in accordance with what they deem as best practices. Essentially, the LPs sought to reinforce the basic "alignment of interests" equation when negotiating terms on fees, including transaction fees.

It's too early to say how individual private equity firms will respond, mainly because there's little fundraising going on at the moment. To be sure, there will always be outliers that can command funding on their own terms.

In the current tug of war, a few GPs have shown willingness to compromise on terms. But of the 100 or so organizations that have endorsed the ILPA principles, only a few private equity firms have signed on.

As for Tuesday's meeting, CalPERS CIO Joe Dear e-mailed a statement to Reuters calling it "productive." The big test, however, will come when fundraisers roll in.