Securities Lawyer
He regularly represents clients before U.S. federal and state financial regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He also represents clients in filing comment letters and amicus briefs in connection with SEC rulemakings.Â
Partner,, Fenimore, Kay, Harrison & Ford, LLP
Jonathan Hightower focuses his practice in financial institutions law, including corporate, regulatory and securities work. He represents banks and trust companies throughout the country with a particular focus on the Southeast. Mr. Hightower also represents investment banking firms in connection with public and private capital raises, delivery of fairness opinions, and strategic transactions. Mr. Hightower has been a frequent speaker, writer and press commentator on various banking issues.
Shareholder, Maynard Nexsen
Jenny McCain is a Shareholder of Maynard Nexsen and Co-Chair of the firm’s Banking Practice. She also is President of Stonegate Real Estate Investments, LLC, a multi-state commercial real estate company. Ms. McCain is also the Founder, Director, and President (2013-2015) of Scholarships for Kids, Inc.
Ms. McCain provides specialized regulatory and general corporate advice to financial institutions of all sizes, including public and private banks, savings associations, credit unions, insurance companies, and other non-depository financial institutions. Ms. McCain’s clients include many of the nation’s largest banking corporations, insurance companies and credit unions based on asset size, as well as numerous community banks.
In 2010, Ms. McCain led the corporate reorganization/restructuring of a privately owned, $100 million commercial real estate company and has served for the past seven years as its President. Ms. McCain is active in both local and regional philanthropic initiatives. In 2013, Ms. McCain founded Scholarships for Kids, Inc. a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to low income children throughout the state of Alabama. Ms. McCain actively ran the organization from 2013 until 2015, during which time Scholarships for Kids raised over $18 million, partnered with 36 schools throughout the state, and provided more than 3400 scholarships to kindergarten to 12th grade students in Alabama. A twenty-year veteran of the Federalist Society, Ms. McCain has served in leadership positions with the organization since the early 2000s.
Ms. McCain has earned numerous professional and personal accolades, including recognition by both Chambers USA and America’s Best Lawyers as a Leading Practitioner in the area of Banking and Finance. In 2015, Ms. McCain was selected as a member of the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars, a national leadership program created by the George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries.
Ms. McCain is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Texas School of Law. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.
Partner,, Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP
Christian Otteson is a partner with Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP, and is the director of the firm’s financial services practice. Mr. Otteson’s principal areas of practice include assisting corporations and financial institutions with mergers, acquisitions, public and private securities offerings and securities reporting, governance issues, general commercial agreements, technology-related issues and matters involving state and federal banking laws, regulations and supervisory agencies. He also assists financial institutions with the negotiation of regulatory agreements, business and capital plans, and with administrative proceedings related to cease and desist orders and other forms of regulatory enforcement action. Mr. Otteson serves as outside general counsel for many banks and bank holding companies, and in that capacity assists boards and management with strategic and risk management planning, and execution of resulting strategies.
Prior to joining Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP, Mr. Otteson practiced for many years in the Corporate and Securities Section of an international law firm, working specifically in the Financial Services Group. Mr. Otteson also worked in various positions as corporate counsel for a public regional bank, including as General Counsel and Secretary, where he represented the bank and its holding company on matters involving mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and securities reporting, governance, compensation matters, as well as its outsourcing activities, regulatory compliance and general commercial agreements.
Mr. Otteson has lectured extensively on a variety of banking law topics, including bank mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, strategic planning and regulatory compliance. From 2005 to 2008 Mr. Otteson served on the National Arbitration Board of the National Automated Clearing House Association. He is a Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholar.
Mr. Otteson was named Barrister’s Best “People’s Choice” in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Law Week Colorado. In this statewide annual survey, the staff and readers of Colorado’s top legal publication choose winners in over 100 different categories celebrating the best of the legal world in Colorado. Mr. Otteson was voted “Best Banking Lawyer.”
Denver’s top lifestyle publication, 5280 magazine, named Mr. Otteson to its list of Top Lawyers in the “Banking” category in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The rankings are based on ballots cast by thousands of lawyers in the seven-county Denver metro area, as well as the magazine’s extensive research.
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General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Citigroup
Brent McIntosh joined Citi as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in October 2021. Brent leads Citi's global legal team, including Citi security and investigative services, and oversees Citi’s independent compliance risk management function.
Brent served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2019 to 2021. He led the Treasury Department’s engagement in the G7 and G20, represented the United States on the Financial Stability Board, and managed U.S. participation at the IMF and World Bank. He oversaw Treasury’s international economic and financial policy work, including significant engagements on investment security and regulation of digital currencies. During 2020, he coordinated initiatives to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic consequences.
From 2017 to 2019, Brent served as Treasury’s General Counsel, leading the department’s approximately 2,000 lawyers and spearheading its regulatory reform efforts. Prior to that, he was a partner in the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, where his practice focused on complex disputes involving financial institutions and multinational corporations.
Brent served in the White House from 2006 until 2009, first as Associate Counsel to the President and then as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary. Before that, he was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department, where his work focused on national security matters.
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A Michigan native, Brent holds an A.B. in economics and political science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Following law school, he was a law clerk to two federal appellate judges, Dennis Jacobs of the Second Circuit and Laurence H. Silberman of the D.C. Circuit. Brent serves on the Board of Directors of the Alexander Hamilton Society, the Board of Advisors for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, and the Advisory Council of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he previously served as an Adjunct Senior Fellow for International Economics and Finance, as well as the Bretton Woods Committee and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2025, after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025.
Prior to returning to the SEC, Chairman Atkins was most recently chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a company he founded in 2009. Chairman Atkins helped lead efforts to develop best practices for the digital asset sector. He served as an independent director and non-executive chairman of the board of BATS Global Markets, Inc. from 2012 to 2015.
Chairman Atkins was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008. During his tenure, he advocated for transparency, consistency, and the use of cost-benefit analysis at the agency. Chairman Atkins also represented the SEC at meetings of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council. From 2009 to 2010, he was appointed a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Before serving as an SEC Commissioner, Chairman Atkins was a consultant on securities and investment management industry matters, especially regarding issues of strategy, regulatory compliance, risk management, new product development, and organizational control.
From 1990 to 1994, Chairman Atkins served on the staff of two chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt, ultimately as chief of staff and counselor, respectively. He received the SEC’s 1992 Law and Policy Award for work regarding corporate governance matters.
Chairman Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He was resident for 2½ years in his firm's Paris office and admitted as conseil juridique in France.
A member of the New York and Florida bars, Chairman Atkins received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1983 and was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Wofford College in 1980.
Originally from Lillington, North Carolina, Chairman Atkins grew up in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Sarah have three sons.
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Principal, Ely & Company, Inc.
Bert Ely has specialized in deposit insurance and banking structure issues since 1981. In 1986, he became an early predictor of the S&L crisis and a taxpayer bailout of the FSLIC. In 1991, he was the first person to correctly predict the non-crisis in commercial banking; in 1992, he predicted an eventual taxpayer bailout of the Japanese banking system.
Bert continuously monitors conditions in the banking and S&L industries, monetary policy, and the growing federalization of credit risk. He has helped to draft legislation to enact the cross-guarantee concept for privatizing banking regulation and its related deposit insurance and systemic risks. He has testified on numerous occasions before congressional committees on banking issues and he often speaks on these matters to bankers and others.
Bert first established his consulting practice in 1972. Before that, he was the chief financial officer of a public company, a consultant with Touche, Ross & Company, and an auditor with Ernst & Ernst. He received his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968 and his Bachelor's degree in economics in 1964 from Case Western Reserve University.
Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law
Mehrsa Baradaran is a Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law.
Previously, she was the Robert Cotten Alston Chair in Corporate Law and Associate Dean for strategic initiatives with a focus on diversity and inclusion efforts and national and international faculty scholarship recognition at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Baradaran writes about banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her scholarship includes the books How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, both published by the Harvard University Press. The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap was awarded the Best Book of the Year by the Urban Affairs Association, the PROSE Award Honorable Mention in the Business, Finance & Management category. Baradaran was also selected as a finalist at the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year Awards for the book in the category of history/biography.
Baradaran has also published articles including "Jim Crow Credit" in the Irvine Law Review, "Regulation by Hypothetical" in the Vanderbilt Law Review, "It's Time for Postal Banking" in the Harvard Law Review Forum, "Banking and the Social Contract" in the Notre Dame Law Review, "How the Poor Got Cut Out of Banking" in the Emory Law Journal, "Reconsidering the Separation of Banking and Commerce" in the George Washington Law Review and "The ILC and the Reconstruction of U.S. Banking" in the SMU Law Review. Of note, her article "The New Deal with Black America" was selected for presentation at the 2017 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum.
Baradaran and her books have received significant national and international media coverage and have been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Slate, American Banker, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times; on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and Public Broadcasting Service’s “NewsHour;” and as part of TEDxUGA. She has advised U.S. Senators and Congressmen on policy, testified before the U.S. Congress, and spoken at national and international forums like the U.S. Treasury and the World Bank.
She earned her bachelor's degree cum laude from Brigham Young University and her law degree cum laude from NYU, where she served as a member of the New York University Law Review.
Executive Director, Government Affairs, Goldman Sachs
Diego Zuluaga serves as Executive Director, Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs.
Previously Zuluaga served as a Principal at Fingleton. Prior to joining Fingleton, Zuluaga was an associate director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, where he covered financial technology and consumer credit. Before joining Cato, Zuluaga was Head of Financial Services and Tech Policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. While at the IEA, he wrote on international capital mobility, multi-sided platform regulation, and price controls on consumer credit, among other subjects.
Zuluaga is the author of “Should Cryptocurrencies Be Regulated like Securities?” and “The Community Reinvestment Act in the Age of Fintech and Bank Competition.” He has previously testified on the impact of restrictions on short-​term lending before the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. Zuluaga's work has featured in print and broadcast media, such as Politico, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, American Banker, the London Times, and the Daily Telegraph. Zuluaga is a prolific public speaker as well as a former lecturer in economics at the University of Buckingham.
Originally from Bilbao in northern Spain, Zuluaga holds a BA in economics and history from McGill University, and an MSc in financial economics from the University of Oxford.
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
T. Elliot Gaiser is the Office of Legal Counsel’s 27th Assistant Attorney General. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on April 29, 2025, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on August 4, 2025.
Prior to joining the Office of Legal Counsel, Mr. Gaiser served as the 11th Solicitor General of Ohio. In that role, he represented his home state and its agencies before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and other state and federal courts. He also advised Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on significant legal and constitutional matters important to the people of Ohio.
Mr. Gaiser clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Neomi Rao of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In the private sector, Mr. Gaiser worked at the law firms Jones Day, Boyden Gray, and Gibson Dunn. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and Hillsdale College. He is also a husband and father.
Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Nick Ohnell Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
Rafael Mangual is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a member of the Council on Criminal Justice. His first book, Criminal (In)Justice, was released in July 2022. He has authored and coauthored a number of MI reports and op-eds on issues ranging from urban crime and jail violence to broader matters of criminal and civil justice reform. His work has been featured and mentioned in a wide array of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and City Journal. Mangual also regularly appears on Fox News and has made a number of national and local television and radio appearances on outlets such as C-SPAN and Bloomberg Radio. In 2020, he was appointed to serve a four-year term as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
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Prior to joining MI in 2015, Rafael worked in corporate communications for the International Trademark Association. He holds a B.A. in corporate communications from the City University of New York’s Baruch College and a J.D. from DePaul University in Chicago, where he was president of the Federalist Society and vice president of the Appellate Moot Court team. After graduating from law school, Mangual was inducted into the Order of the Barristers, a national honor society for excellence in oral and written advocacy.
Vice President for the Program on Technology, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, Lincoln Network
Arthur Rizer is the Vice President for the Program on Technology, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties at Lincoln Network. In addition to his work at Lincoln, Arthur is a visiting lecturer at University College London, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Arthur is also a member of Columbia University Justice Lab’s Executive Session for the Future of Justice Policy, the Federalist Society’s Executive Committee of the Criminal Law Practice Group, the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and other advisory bodies.
Before joining Lincoln, Arthur was founding director of the R Street Institute’s program on criminal justice and civil liberties. Prior to that, Arthur taught at West Virginia University’s College of Law, and was a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He also served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department, primarily as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division, where he targeted command-and-control drug cartel leaders and narco-terrorists. He also served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and in the civil division. Earlier in his career, Arthur served in the U.S. Army, originally enlisting as a private before later receiving a commission. He served as an armor officer, later becoming the commander of a military police company and a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps assistant professor. He deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, with the mission to train the Iraqi Infantry and served as an MP acting battalion commander and executive officer. He retired as a lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army (WVNG). During his Army career, Arthur received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service and Iraq Campaign medals.
Arthur is the author of three books: Lincoln’s Counsel (2010); The National Security Implications of Immigration Law (2013); and Jefferson’s Pen: The Art of Persuasion (2016).
Arthur earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Pacific Lutheran University; a master of laws, with distinction, from Georgetown University’s Law Center; and his JD, magna cum laude, from Gonzaga University School of Law. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Command Staff College. He is in the final stages of a doctorate at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, Centre of Criminology that focuses on policing.
Of Counsel, Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom
Kim Colby has worked for Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1981. She has represented religious groups in several appellate cases, including two cases heard by the United States Supreme Court. She has filed numerous amicus briefs in federal and state courts. In 1984, she assisted in congressional passage of the Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C. § 4071, et seq., which protects the right of secondary school students to meet for prayer and Bible study on campus. Ms. Colby has prepared several CLS publications addressing issues about religious expression in public schools, including released time programs, implementation of the Equal Access Act, and teachers’ religious expression.
Ms. Colby graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois with a major in American History and a particular interest in slavery in colonial North America.
University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Michael P. Moreland was appointed University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University in 2017. Professor Moreland joined the Villanova faculty in 2006 and served as Vice Dean from 2012 to 2015. His research is primarily in the areas of torts, law and religion, constitutional law, and Catholic social thought, and he regularly teaches Torts, First Amendment, seminars in law and religion, and undergraduate courses in ethics.
Professor Moreland is the co-editor of Christianity and Private Law (Routledge, 2021), and his most recent publications include: “The Authority of Tradition: John Henry Newman and Legal Theory” in Christianity and the Making of Irish Law (Routledge, 2025); “Christianity and Torts” in The Oxford Handbook on Christianity and Law, (Oxford University Press, 2023); “Germaneness and Religious Liberty” in the Notre Dame Law Review (2023); “Contingency and Contestation in Christianity and Liberalism” in the Notre Dame Law Review (2023); “Friendship as the Primary Purpose of Law” in The American Journal of Jurisprudence 279 (2022); and “The Moral of Torts” (with Jeffrey Pojanowski) in Christianity and Private Law (Routledge, 2021).
Professor Moreland was a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame and the Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture from 2015 to 2017. He was the Forbes Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the James Madison Program during academic year 2010-11. He has served as the project leader for grants from the John Templeton Foundation and the Charles Koch Foundation. He serves as the Chair of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group Executive Committee and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California.
Professor Moreland received his BA in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, his MA and PhD in theological ethics from Boston College, and his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Professor Moreland clerked for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where he represented clients in First Amendment, professional liability, and products liability matters. Before coming to Villanova, he served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House under President George W. Bush, where he worked on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights, and liability reform.
President, Harned Strategies LLC
Karen Harned is President at Harned Strategies LLC. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, a post she held from 2002-2022. Prior to joining the Legal Center, Ms. Harned was an attorney at a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in food and drug law, where she represented several small and large businesses and their respective trade associations before Congress and federal agencies. She also served as Assistant Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma from August of 1989 to March of 1993. Ms. Harned received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1989 and her J.D. from The George Washington University National Law Center in 1995. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
As Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center, Ms. Harned commented regularly on small business cases before federal and state courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. She has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and radio outlets across the country. Her opinion editorials and articles regarding healthcare, lawsuit abuse, regulation, and other issues important to small business have been published in newspapers and other publications nationwide.
Ms. Harned has testified before Congress on the small business impact of regulation and the civil justice system. Additionally, she has conducted numerous webinars and legal compliance seminars for small business owners across the country on issues relating to employment law, including unionization and immigration.
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.
James A. Paretti, Jr. is an experienced management-side employment and labor relations attorney with in-depth political and policy knowledge of labor, pension, healthcare and employment law, regulations and legislation. Jim is well versed in all aspects of legislative and political processes with demonstrated knowledge in the substance of federal labor and employment policy. He has over two decades of experience working with federal legislators and policymakers, including former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chairmen of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and senior level administration officials.Â
Prior to joining Littler, Jim was chief of staff and senior counsel to the acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He provided legal and political counsel with respect to all aspects of agency business, administered and managed the Office of the Chair where he was responsible for over 2,200 employees and a 375 million dollar annual budget, and served as primary liaison to regulated stakeholders and Capitol Hill.
His extensive experience includes developing policy and providing legal counsel on the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as coordinating external communications and media relations for a senior member of Congress. Jim represented corporate and nonprofit clients in employment litigation in federal and state court, before administrative agencies and in private arbitration while with two Boston firms.Â
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Counsel, International Trade; National Security; CFIUS, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Dan Gerkin advises on issues involving the transnational flow of goods, software, technology and services, as well as investments in the United States and abroad.
Specifically, Mr. Gerkin counsels a variety of U.S., international and multinational clients in matters concerning U.S. export controls, economic embargoes and sanctions, investment security reviews, customs, and trade remedies and other trade-related investigations, often in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions.
Mr. Gerkin represents clients regarding compliance with the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), including anti-boycott compliance, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the embargoes and sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and sanctions-related legislation. Additionally, he assists clients with commodity classification requests, commodity jurisdiction requests, advisory opinion requests, applications for licenses and other export authorizations, voluntary prior disclosures and responses to administrative subpoenas, and has created comprehensive export compliance policies and procedures manuals.
Mr. Gerkin has counseled clients in connection with matters implicating the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and has successfully led a number of clients through the CFIUS clearance process. His experience includes transactions in the energy, telecommunications, financial services and industrial sectors, among others.
Additionally, Mr. Gerkin represents U.S. importers before U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Court of International Trade in connection with a wide variety of customs matters, including tariff classification, import valuation, country of origin, country of origin marking, preferential programs and free trade agreements, drawback, reconciliation, temporary importations under bond, Foreign Trade Zones, and textile quota and visa requirements. He also represents foreign manufacturers and exporters and U.S. importers in traditional and nonmarket anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings, as well as in Section 201, 232 and 301 proceedings.
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Professor and Co-Director of the Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre, UNSW Law
Prof. Heng Wang is a professor and co-director of UNSW Law's Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre, the largest centre in this field outside China. He is also a co-director of Tsinghua-UNSW Joint Research Centre for International Commercial and Economic Law (JCICEL​​). Previously, as a professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SWUPL), China, he headed a WTO law center (established by the Department of Treaty and Law, the Ministry of Commerce and SWUPL) and has been the recipient of top research awards and several major grants, including the triennial China Outstanding Law Research Award, twice, (China Law Society) and the Outstanding Research Award in Humanities and Social Science (the Ministry of Education). He was a visiting professorial fellow at UNSW Law (2012-2015). Heng’s research interest focuses on the frontline of China’s international economic law practice (e.g. the Belt and Road Initiative, China-US economic relationship, free trade agreements, possible central bank digital currency), its rationale and implications. His recent papers study US-China trade war, and China’s approach to the Belt and Road Initiative.Â
Heng has spoken at the WTO Headquarters and over 50 universities in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including Harvard University, Oxford University, Columbia University, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, the LSE, University of Paris 1 and Waseda University. He was a Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow and a Max Weber Fellow at European University Institute. As a visiting professor, he taught at UNSW, University of Ottawa, Case Western Reserve University, Yokohama National University, Xiamen University, and China University of Political Science and Law. In 2019, he taught courses at National University of Singapore and Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen). Besides being a visiting professor at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies and the University of Cagliari, he conducted research at the WTO Secretariat and was the university professorial fellow at SWUPL.
Besides books, he published widely within and outside of China in journals including Journal of International Economic Law, Journal of World Trade, Cornell International Law Journal, Columbia Journal of Asian Law, and Tsinghua China Law Review. Heng was an Executive Council member of the Society of International Economic Law (2008-2015) and is a founding member of the Asian International Economic Law Network, a member of the Asian WTO Research Network, and an executive member of governing council of all three Chinese societies of international economic law or WTO law.
Heng has advised or provided training to the government, international organization (the APEC), and the private sector, and is an arbitrator of arbitration institutions in China and Europe.
He has been often interviewed by media in Australia, China, the US and elsewhere, including by the BBC, Reuters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the South China Morning Post, SBS, Australia Financial Review, and the Australian.
Securities Lawyer
He regularly represents clients before U.S. federal and state financial regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He also represents clients in filing comment letters and amicus briefs in connection with SEC rulemakings.Â
Partner,, Fenimore, Kay, Harrison & Ford, LLP
Jonathan Hightower focuses his practice in financial institutions law, including corporate, regulatory and securities work. He represents banks and trust companies throughout the country with a particular focus on the Southeast. Mr. Hightower also represents investment banking firms in connection with public and private capital raises, delivery of fairness opinions, and strategic transactions. Mr. Hightower has been a frequent speaker, writer and press commentator on various banking issues.
Shareholder, Maynard Nexsen
Jenny McCain is a Shareholder of Maynard Nexsen and Co-Chair of the firm’s Banking Practice. She also is President of Stonegate Real Estate Investments, LLC, a multi-state commercial real estate company. Ms. McCain is also the Founder, Director, and President (2013-2015) of Scholarships for Kids, Inc.
Ms. McCain provides specialized regulatory and general corporate advice to financial institutions of all sizes, including public and private banks, savings associations, credit unions, insurance companies, and other non-depository financial institutions. Ms. McCain’s clients include many of the nation’s largest banking corporations, insurance companies and credit unions based on asset size, as well as numerous community banks.
In 2010, Ms. McCain led the corporate reorganization/restructuring of a privately owned, $100 million commercial real estate company and has served for the past seven years as its President. Ms. McCain is active in both local and regional philanthropic initiatives. In 2013, Ms. McCain founded Scholarships for Kids, Inc. a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to low income children throughout the state of Alabama. Ms. McCain actively ran the organization from 2013 until 2015, during which time Scholarships for Kids raised over $18 million, partnered with 36 schools throughout the state, and provided more than 3400 scholarships to kindergarten to 12th grade students in Alabama. A twenty-year veteran of the Federalist Society, Ms. McCain has served in leadership positions with the organization since the early 2000s.
Ms. McCain has earned numerous professional and personal accolades, including recognition by both Chambers USA and America’s Best Lawyers as a Leading Practitioner in the area of Banking and Finance. In 2015, Ms. McCain was selected as a member of the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars, a national leadership program created by the George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries.
Ms. McCain is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Texas School of Law. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.
Partner,, Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP
Christian Otteson is a partner with Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP, and is the director of the firm’s financial services practice. Mr. Otteson’s principal areas of practice include assisting corporations and financial institutions with mergers, acquisitions, public and private securities offerings and securities reporting, governance issues, general commercial agreements, technology-related issues and matters involving state and federal banking laws, regulations and supervisory agencies. He also assists financial institutions with the negotiation of regulatory agreements, business and capital plans, and with administrative proceedings related to cease and desist orders and other forms of regulatory enforcement action. Mr. Otteson serves as outside general counsel for many banks and bank holding companies, and in that capacity assists boards and management with strategic and risk management planning, and execution of resulting strategies.
Prior to joining Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson LLP, Mr. Otteson practiced for many years in the Corporate and Securities Section of an international law firm, working specifically in the Financial Services Group. Mr. Otteson also worked in various positions as corporate counsel for a public regional bank, including as General Counsel and Secretary, where he represented the bank and its holding company on matters involving mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and securities reporting, governance, compensation matters, as well as its outsourcing activities, regulatory compliance and general commercial agreements.
Mr. Otteson has lectured extensively on a variety of banking law topics, including bank mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, strategic planning and regulatory compliance. From 2005 to 2008 Mr. Otteson served on the National Arbitration Board of the National Automated Clearing House Association. He is a Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholar.
Mr. Otteson was named Barrister’s Best “People’s Choice” in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 by Law Week Colorado. In this statewide annual survey, the staff and readers of Colorado’s top legal publication choose winners in over 100 different categories celebrating the best of the legal world in Colorado. Mr. Otteson was voted “Best Banking Lawyer.”
Denver’s top lifestyle publication, 5280 magazine, named Mr. Otteson to its list of Top Lawyers in the “Banking” category in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The rankings are based on ballots cast by thousands of lawyers in the seven-county Denver metro area, as well as the magazine’s extensive research.
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