Barnes & Thornburg Adds Former CFTC and SEC Enforcement Attorney to Washington, D.C., Office

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Financial and regulatory litigation attorney David S. Slovick has joined Barnes & Thornburg’s Washington, D.C., office as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department. Slovick joins from Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York, where he was counsel in the Litigation Group.

Slovick is a former senior enforcement attorney at both the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In these roles, he led numerous administrative investigations and federal court actions involving a wide range of conduct in the derivatives and securities markets, including futures, swaps and securities trading practices; market manipulation; insider trading; commodity pool fraud; futures and foreign exchange Ponzi schemes; securities offering and disclosure fraud; accounting fraud; and options trading.

“David’s regulatory enforcement experience at the CFTC and SEC makes him a unique and invaluable addition to the firm,” says Roscoe Howard, managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s Washington, D.C., office. “His industry ties to New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago will bolster the group’s geographical reach, while his agency experience will deepen our Financial and Regulatory Litigation group.” 

In his practice, Slovick represents financial services firms and individuals in investigations and litigation conducted by the CFTC, SEC, FINRA and CME Group, among other public and private regulators, in a broad array of matters arising under federal laws and rules governing the derivatives and securities markets. Slovick also counsels clients on regulatory compliance matters arising under those laws and rules. 

“There has been an uptick in government enforcement against individuals in the trading space. David’s knowledge and experience directly align with the needs of our clients, who are now frequently seeking counsel on matters related to the SEC, the CFTC and securities and commodities regulation,” said Trace Schmeltz, co-chair of the firm’s Financial and Regulatory Litigation group. In addition, Schmeltz notes, “given the advances we are seeing in fintech and the blockchain, his unique experience having been at the SEC and CFTC will help clients navigate difficult regulatory waters – including the question of whether a digital asset is a security or commodity and, accordingly, which regulator will have jurisdiction over it.”

Slovick earned his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. 

With more than 600 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Atlanta, California, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, Ohio, Texas and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.