Broker-Dealer Compliance & Regulatory Counseling

McGuireWoods’ experienced broker-dealer compliance and regulatory counseling team represent broker-dealers, investment advisers, municipal advisors, private equity and hedge funds, banks, and issuers in examinations, informal and formal investigations, and litigation initiated by the SEC, DOJ, FINRA, other SROs, state securities regulators, attorneys general and administrators in areas such as sales practices, supervision and compliance issues, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, cybersecurity, municipal securities underwriting, sales and trading, and the marketing and sale of complex securities products.

The team helps clients establish, update, tailor and implement compliance and supervisory programs that address a range of issues including broker-dealer status, sales practices and fiduciary duties; digital advice and other engagement practices; custody; operations; research, sales and trading; AML; data security and privacy; and many others. We also work with clients to address the various regulatory and compliance issues that arise when launching new products and services.

We assist clients in forming, acquiring and combining firms, including SEC broker-dealer registration and FINRA membership. We help clients by developing advocacy strategies around changes to federal and state securities laws; and responding to examinations by the SEC, FINRA, other SROs, and state securities regulators and attorneys general. We also counsel clients in connection with regulatory self-reporting initiatives and help them navigate the regulatory nuances of self-reporting, disclosure and the statutory disqualification process.

Our attorneys stay apprised of proposed and newly adopted laws, rules and interpretations to help ensure that clients comply with their regulatory obligations. We conduct mock exams and audits, advise clients on establishing and strengthening compliance and supervisory programs, and provide training to clients’ employees.

The McGuireWoods broker-dealer compliance and regulatory counseling team includes attorneys with deep and varying regulatory backgrounds (including positions with the SEC’s Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets, and FIRA’s Enforcement Department and Market Regulation Enforcement team, and former senior in-house counsel, as well as prominent federal prosecutors) that enable them to counsel clients on the full spectrum of regulatory, business and compliance issues, industry developments and market trends.