Richard Levin brings his experience as a senior legal and compliance officer on Wall Street and in London to bear in advising clients on corporate, securities and regulatory issues. A problem-solver by nature, his practice focuses on helping financial services and technology (“FinTech”) clients identify and address regulatory issues as they build their businesses.
The FinTech sector is experiencing rapid changes that are producing innovative new technologies: digital currencies, blockchain technology, peer to peer lending, robo advisors, crowdfunding portals, and electronic trading platforms. These changes are challenging early stage companies and established financial services firms to understand the legal and regulatory issues associated with the development of these innovative technologies. Polsinelli is at the vanguard of these changes.
Richard’s practice focuses on the representation of early stage and publicly traded companies in the FinTech space, including investment banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, peer to peer lending platforms, digital currency trading platforms, alternative trading systems (ATSs), and exchanges. He has been advising these clients on legal and regulatory issues since the start of electronic trading in the late 1990s.
Before entering private practice, Richard served as the Global Head of Product Development for Compliance and Operations for a leading global investment bank and as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of three U.S. ATSs and a U.K. based multi-lateral trading facility (MTF). He played a leadership role in the launch of two successful joint ventures of leading global investment banks. Richard began his career on Wall Street by serving as the General Counsel of one of the original Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs), and as Assistant General Counsel and Regulatory Affairs Officer of the largest Nasdaq market maker. His current and past clients include leading national financial institutions, multinational financial services holding companies, and institutions engaging in global investment banking, investment management, securities, and other financial services with institutional clients. Richard has represented clients before regulators in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
He is a member of the Entrepreneurship Initiative Advisory Board of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship of the University of Colorado. The Advisory Board consists of respected venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs, top executives at established companies, and attorneys that represent early stage companies.
Before joining Polsinelli Richard was the co-chair and founder of the Digital Currency Team of a leading U.S. law firm. Richard is a frequent speaker at conferences on regulatory, FinTech, and market structure issues and the co-author of the chapter on U.S. regulation of virtual currencies for the Handbook of Digital Currency published by Elsevier
