New York City Bar Association's 2025 Fintech Conference
Conference | September.09.2025 | 9am - 5pm (Eastern Daylight Time)
New York City Bar AssociationHow are digital assets, crypto, and other fintech innovations reshaping global payment systems? Explore the impact of these technologies at the New York City Bar Association’s 2025 Fintech Conference on Sept. 9, featuring discussions on the legal, regulatory, and practical implications of a rapidly evolving financial services landscape.
Lorraine McGowen serves as Program Chair and will moderate a timely discussion on the “Expansion of Financial Institutions & Other Entities into Crypto and Other Digital Asset Transactions” with fellow Orrick partner, Ignacio Sandoval. We hope to see you there!
CLE Credits Available: Y
Practice:
- Finance Sector
- Restructuring
- 破産訴訟
- 地方自治体のリストラおよび破産
- Energy & Infrastructure
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Structured Finance
- 高等教育および学資ローンのファイナンス
Lorraine McGowen パートナー
New York
Lorraine brings 30+ years of legal experience in bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, sovereign debt restructurings and creditors' rights controversies. She interfaces with auditors, government regulators, investment bankers and others, and develops and implements mediation and litigation strategies, and negotiates reorganization plans and complex corporate and finance documents. Lorraine also regularly provides commercial law and bankruptcy advice in connection with securitization, M&A, energy & infrastructure and general corporate transactions.
She has represented various stakeholders in bankruptcies, workouts, distressed debt transactions, sovereign debt restructurings, bankruptcy litigation, derivatives and distressed acquisition matters such as Suriname, Belize, Puerto Rico, Takata Corporation, Windstream, GTT, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Lehman, MF Global, Indiana Toll Road, Chemtura Corporation, Tronox Incorporated, South Bay Expressway, American Dream School, Detroit, General Motors and Stone & Webster.
Lorraine previously served two terms on Orrick's 11-member Board of Directors and as a member of the Management Committee, and she also previously chaired the Restructuring Group.
Lorraine, who formerly served as Partner in Charge of Orrick's global Inclusion & Belonging Initiatives, is widely recognized for her work creating programs for the legal profession and the community. She was selected as a 2019 Rainmaker by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), 2025 Private Practitioner of the Year by the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, as one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Lawyers for 2024, 2022, 2018 and 2015, and received Legal Outreach’s Pipeline to Diversity 2017 Champion Award and the New York City Bar Association Diversity and Inclusion 2012 Champion Award. IFLR1000 Rankings named Lorraine a leading lawyer in the U.S. She was selected by Direct Women to be a 2016 Board Institute member. She is a frequent speaker and author on bankruptcy and insolvency and diversity & inclusion.
Among her community involvement, Lorraine is a former Vice President and Board Member of the New York City Bar Association and currently co-chairs the City Bar's Digital Assets Task Force. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, where she is chair of the board, and on the Advisory Committees for Legal Outreach and the Vance Center for International Justice of the City Bar, where she serves as co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Vance Center.
Practice:
- Financial & Fintech Advisory
- Technology Companies Group
- Strategic Advisory and Government Enforcement
Ignacio Sandoval パートナー
Washington DC
Clients turn to Ignacio when they are engaging with regulators and self-regulatory organizations, structuring new products or platforms or developing business models across areas such as digital assets, blockchain, tokenization and artificial intelligence. He advises broker-dealers, investment advisers, fintech and wealthtech companies, digital asset platforms, securities exchanges, alternative trading systems, banks and other domestic and foreign market participants.
Drawing on his experience as a special counsel in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, Ignacio brings a regulator’s perspective to high-stakes regulatory and market structure questions. He regularly represents clients before the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA and MSRB in seeking no-action relief, interpretive guidance and exemptions, and advises on enforcement matters and regulatory examinations. He also partners with business, legal and product teams to design platform architecture, operational frameworks and compliance programs that align with applicable securities and commodities laws while supporting commercial objectives.
Ignacio’s practice spans the full lifecycle of financial products and platforms, from initial structuring and regulatory strategy through launch and ongoing operations. He works with both established financial institutions and emerging companies to navigate registration, licensing and compliance considerations, and to develop scalable, regulatorily sound business models. His work includes advising on the design and operation of robo-advisers, neobrokers, fractional share platforms and other technology-driven financial services, as well as drafting and negotiating clearing, custody, trading and platform agreements.
He is particularly active at the intersection of traditional financial regulation and emerging technologies, advising clients on the regulatory treatment of digital assets, tokenized securities and real-world assets, stablecoins and crypto custody arrangements, as well as the use of AI in trading, portfolio management and compliance functions. His work often involves bridging existing securities and commodities frameworks with novel product structures, market infrastructure and cross-border strategies.
Ignacio also advises investment advisers, fund managers and other market participants on regulatory status, compliance and structuring considerations, including SEC registration, advisory agreements and Form ADV disclosures. He counsels clients on the regulatory treatment of futures, perpetual contracts and other instruments that may implicate both securities and commodities regimes, and advises on issues affecting structured products and municipal securities, including Volcker Rule compliance and municipal advisor considerations.