Overview
(January 18, 2024, New York) — Steptoe LLP has announced the continued growth and expansion of its Financial Services and Blockchain & Cryptocurrency practices with the addition of Stephen Aschettino. Stephen joins the firm as a partner in New York.
“As digital transformation accelerates and payments technology continues to evolve, we are thrilled to welcome someone with Stephen’s record as a leader in emerging payments and digital assets,” commented firm chair Gwen Renigar. “Stephen is an accomplished business lawyer and trial attorney who has handled a wide variety of complex financial technology transactions and high-stakes litigation matters. His addition increases the visibility and stature of Steptoe’s financial services transactional and regulatory capabilities, and he works at the intersection of business, government policy, and the courts, exactly where our firm focuses.”
Stephen is a payments-industry veteran who has led FinTech and Payments Technology practices at other global law firms and previously served as Chief Legal Officer to a leading payments company. He assists clients with matters involving electronic payments, mobile wallets, prepaid cards, digital currency, blockchain technology, tokenization, money transmission and related licensing issues. Stephen has extensive experience with new product development, negotiating key sponsorship and processing agreements, structuring intercompany transactions, regulatory analysis and dispute resolution. He regularly counsels on federal and state payments, financial and consumer regulatory issues, data privacy and security and compliance with PCI-DSS, card-network and NACHA rules. Stephen’s expertise in FinTech has been recognized by Chambers USA and The Legal 500.
Stephen added: “I'm excited to bring my experience counseling clients on payments technology and financial regulatory matters to Steptoe. As the landscape for evolving payments technology draws added regulatory scrutiny, I am thrilled to join a firm that I have long considered to be a leader in regulatory, enforcement and litigation matters. This is an exciting next step in my career, and I look forward to drawing on all of the resources and insights the firm has to offer to deliver exceptional results for Steptoe clients.”
The addition follows another group of recent high-profile hires in the financial services regulatory and litigation space, including Juliana Gerrick, Julia Strickland, Stephen Newman, Christopher Fredrich, Andrew Owens, and Ryan Hayden.
Over the past two years, Steptoe’s Financial Services practice has handled a number of significant matters, often at the boundary areas of emerging regulation and financial services products, including advocating on behalf of a US-based cryptocurrency exchange on the issue of what constitutes "actual delivery" in the digital currency context under CFTC rules, representing Discover Financial Services in defending a putative class action raising cutting-edge discrimination issues, and advising the Independent Dealer and Trader Association (IDTA) on policy and regulatory issues that impact smaller and mid-sized participants in those markets.
About Steptoe
In more than 110 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
The diversity of the firm is a critical factor in its success. The firm’s chair is a woman; the majority of the firm’s elected executive committee is female; the majority of Steptoe's ten offices are managed by women; and the majority of Steptoe’s practice groups have women as leaders. The firm's six-person professional business services leadership is equally diverse, with two women of color, and other leaders who openly identify as LGBTQ+.
