MCLE Seminar: BitLicense and the Virtual Currency Regulatory Landscape

Nikiforos Mathews 合伙人

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Mr. Mathews, a partner in Orrick’s New York office, serves as Global Co-Head of the Derivatives group and is a member of the firm's Finance and Audit Committee. He is also a member of the Structured Finance, Banking and Finance, and Energy and Infrastructure groups.

His practice focuses on representing financial institutions, governmental and regulated entities, hedge funds and corporate end-users in 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 hedging transactions relating to leveraged loans and infrastructure transactions. In addition, Mr. Mathews has significant experience in foreign exchange and fixed income prime brokerage issues, as well as various structured products. He also regularly advises clients on derivatives regulation, including rules relating to the central clearing, exchange trading, reporting, recordkeeping and other requirements of the Dodd-Frank legislation, as well as the negotiation of related documentation.

Mr. Mathews 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, Mr. Mathews 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, Mr. Mathews 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 合伙人

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Jeremy helps organizations "make order out of chaos" of the 50 state legislatures and designs, executes, and coordinates every aspect of "bet the company" national legislative/lobbying campaigns. In the words of one senior executive, "Jeremy and his team are the apex predators of state government affairs practices. You don't just want him on your side when you need to pass, kill, or shape a bill in one or more state legislatures. You HAVE to have Jeremy and his team on your side."

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 顾问律师

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Jonas Robison, counsel in Orrick’s New York office, is a member of the Structured Finance Group. He has a broad financial regulatory practice, including frequently advising on derivatives regulations and CFTC matters. His practice also focuses on securitization and negotiating derivatives transactions. 

He has experience with derivatives regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act, bank regulations, regulatory requirements applicable to virtual currencies and blockchain technology, and the securities laws generally. He also represents issuers and underwriters in commercial mortgage loan, auto loan, credit card, and other types of securitizations. In addition, he has broad experience in general corporate matters.