Willkie Farr & Gallagher announced that James R. Burns will practice in Willkies Asset Management Group and will be based in the Washington, D.C. office. His practice will focus on counseling investment managers and broker-dealers on all aspects of their business, including regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters.
Burns will join former Director of the SECs Division of Investment Management, Barry Barbash, Co-Chair of the Group.
We are truly delighted that Jim has decided to join our team. He was recognized throughout his tenure at the SEC as a star member of the Commissions staff and has deep experience and expertise that spans the trading and markets and asset management areas. He will be a great resource for our clients and for the Group, said Barbash.
While at the SEC, Burns most recently had oversight responsibility for core regulatory functions within the Division of Trading and Markets, including market supervision, analytics and research, derivatives policy and trading practices, and the chief counsel and enforcement liaison offices. In particular, he oversaw key initiatives including the adoption of the Volcker Rule and rules to implement the derivatives reform provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. During his tenure, he also coordinated the divisions response to significant market events, its participation in international regulatory initiatives, and its development and implementation of new analytical tools for market oversight.
Prior to joining the Division, Burns served under Chairman Mary L. Schapiro as the agencys Deputy Chief of Staff, where he advised on the development and execution of the SECs broader rulemaking and policy agenda. He joined Chairman Schapiros staff as counsel in 2010, having first come to the SEC as counsel to Commissioner Kathleen Casey in 2008. In these prior SEC staff capacities, he worked chiefly on investment management and trading and markets matters arising from the financial crisis. Before joining the SEC staff, Burns worked in private practice, advising investment managers and fiduciaries, fund clients, broker-dealers, and other market participants on a variety of regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters.
Burns received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. He holds masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Oxford, and graduated with an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College
It has been an honor to have worked alongside dedicated SEC colleagues through more than six years of unprecedented regulatory changes, said Burns. I am very excited to be joining the
talented Willkie team as they help clients navigate the ongoing and often times difficult regulatory and practical challenges presented by this unfolding landscape.
