This is interesting, what are you not allowed to participate in that I am a normal person can?
Almost any type of equity or fixed income trade I want to make is heavily monitored and required to be precleared with our compliance department, among other rules. The SEC regulations are pretty strict for investment advisors so this is a standard practice in the industry. In fact, some investment managers outright ban their employees from trading individual securities.
I'm actually leaving the firm in two months though, so I'll probably explore trading the notes at that time.