Broker-Dealer Regulation

Cadwalader's "highly regarded broker-dealer practice continues to act as outside regulatory counsel for some of the most prestigious brokerage firms in the industry." - Chambers USA

Broker-dealers and their compliance professionals and risk officers need legal counselors who have a thorough understanding of existing, new and evolving rules and regulations, in a wide variety of circumstances, and how to implement the associated requirements quickly and efficiently. Cadwalader prides itself on the ability of our attorneys to provide astute and timely legal counsel across virtually all of the financial-law related statutory and regulatory requirements, including requirements governing broker-dealers, securities and futures exchanges, clearing corporations, banks, insurance companies, investment advisers, funds and pension plans. Beyond our substantive expertise, our clients benefit from our prominence as a leading legal advisor and our longstanding relationships with counterparties and regulators. Our counsel includes:

  • Creation, purchase and sale of a broker-dealer
  • Organizational structures
  • Derivatives, swaps, complex structured products and securitizations
  • Sales and trading practices and procedures
  • Prime brokerage and clearing relationships
  • Supervisory and reporting requirements
  • Satisfaction of margin, capital and recordkeeping requirements
  • Duties and responsibilities to customers and clients
  • Employee issues
  • Risk assessment, supervision, compliance and internal controls programs and procedures to help prevent and detect wrongdoing
  • Avoiding unauthorized trading, insider trading, churning, and frontrunning
  • Compliance with other requirements applicable to broker-dealers

We believe that no other firm can match the depth of our expertise, the diversity of the clients whom we represent and the range of issues that we face. Further, because our regulatory knowledge is fully integrated with our transactional practice, we are not only skilled at identifying issues, but also at resolving them. Our broker-dealer clients include the largest, multi-national investment banks, as well as retail brokerage firms, boutiques and start-ups. We provide advice across the full range of practice areas, including prime brokerage, clearing, financing, capital, compliance, examinations and enforcement, registration (both employee and firm), M&A, sales and trading across the spectrum of products, OATs and other trade reporting issues, and cross-border derivatives transactions.

1 Attorneys

Bartlett, Maurine R. Senior Counsel Charlotte
T. +1 212 504 6218