MCLE Seminar: BitLicense and the Virtual Currency Regulatory Landscape

Nikiforos Mathews Partner

New York

His practice focuses on representing financial institutions, governmental and regulated entities, hedge funds and corporate end-users in developing, structuring and negotiating a broad range of fixed income, foreign exchange, commodity, energy and credit derivative products. Among other things, he has successfully negotiated numerous domestic and cross-border lien-secured hedging transactions relating to leveraged loans and infrastructure transactions, as well as deal-contingent hedges. In addition, Nik has significant experience in foreign exchange and fixed income prime brokerage issues, as well as various structured products. He also regularly advises clients in connection with derivatives regulation, including the application of the Dodd-Frank legislation and related regulations. Also, Nik provides counsel on close-out netting matters and UCC issues relating account control arrangements for collateral. Nik regularly advises on the structuring and negotiation of energy and commodity hedging transactions, as well as swap regulatory matters relating to VPPAs. Moreover, on a regular basis, Nik represents market participants on the termination and close-out of derivatives and other products, including providing advice on related bankruptcy matters.

Nik is lead editor of Orrick’s publication, Derivatives in Review, which periodically highlights important legal, regulatory and other newsworthy developments in the area of derivatives. He has also published articles in several journals, including on rating agency hedge criteria in connection with structured finance transactions.

Before joining Orrick, Nik was vice president and assistant general counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and director and counsel at UBS AG. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nicholas Tsoucalas of the United States Court of International Trade.

From 1999 to 2007, Nik held a commission as a Captain in the United States Army Reserve, where he was qualified to practice as a Judge Advocate. A veteran of both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, he served as an Operational and Administrative Law attorney in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jeremy Kudon Partner

New York

No other group in the United States - whether at a law firm, public affairs firm, or inside the Beltway - can match Jeremy and Orrick's record of success in the state legislatures. Unlike others, who specialize in tracking bills, identifying contract lobbyists (and taking a % of their fee), or developing expensive media and PR campaigns, Jeremy and his team don't specialize in any one area of state government affairs; they specialize in EVERYTHING. They learn your business, work with you on your objectives--both overall and in the state legislatures, identify threats/opportunities, develop a budget, hire contract lobbyists, draft legislation, prepare advocacy pieces, attend legislative conferences, travel to state capitols and educate members about your issue, testify before committees, develop and implement grassroots and PR campaigns, coordinate roll calls, and coordinate every aspect of both the state and overall campaign to add the most possible value to your business.

Just listen to what the media and our clients have to say – The New York Times profiled our efforts in passing online sports betting and daily fantasy sports legislation in an extensive above-the-fold report and in an episode of their podcast, “The Daily.” And from an interview with TechCruch, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said Jeremy and Orrick’s Public Policy team have “helped us go from a tech company that didn’t know a whole lot about legislative affairs and regulation to really being sophisticated there” and praised that “For anyone who’s in a disruptive industry and might be regulated, they really did a fantastic job.”

Jonas Robison Of Counsel

New York

He regularly advises on bank regulations (including, but not limited to, the Bank Holding Company Act and Regulation Y; the Federal Reserve Act; OCC regulations; Regulations U, X, and T; Regulation W; Regulation K; New York Banking Law; and U.S. regulation of foreign banks); CFTC and derivatives regulatory matters (including uncleared swap margin and capital rules, commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor requirements, product and registrant definitions, the application of CFTC requirements to digital assets, the cross-border framework, swap data reporting, business conduct rules, mandatory clearing and related exceptions, and various key issues for derivatives end users); broker-dealer regulation; regulation of fintech companies, including digital asset clients, robo-advisers, and nonbank lenders; the Investment Advisers Act; the Investment Company Act; and the securities laws generally.

He also regularly negotiates equity and other types of derivatives transactions and related derivatives documentation on both the sell and the buy sides. In addition, he represents issuers and underwriters in commercial mortgage, auto loan, credit card, and other types of securitizations. He also has a broad background in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, venture capital, corporate governance, and general corporate matters.