Overview
(March 22, 2016, Washington, DC) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that Charles “Charley” Mills has joined the firm’s Energy Group and Financial Services practice as a partner. Mr. Mills, who will be based in Steptoe’s Washington office, brings more than 30 years of experience in regulatory enforcement, investigations and compliance before agencies including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Mr. Mills is joining a broad-based team at Steptoe that includes a former FERC commissioner, a former CFTC commissioner and acting chair, as well as other former senior level regulators from both agencies. His arrival further strengthens the regulatory enforcement and compliance capabilities at Steptoe, which were expanded significantly last summer with the arrival of Micah Green’s seven-member legislative/lobbying/regulatory group and Dan Mullen, a FERC/CFTC enforcement practitioner.
A past chair of the ABA’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee, Mr. Mills represents a broad array of registered market intermediaries and advisers, financial and non-financial end users such as energy companies and investment funds, and their directors, officers and traders in regulatory, investigative and litigation matters. He provides compliance counseling and representation in regulatory examinations, investigations and enforcement matters before the CFTC, FERC, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Futures Association, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the principal securities, futures and swap exchanges and trading facilities.
In addition to defending clients in regulatory investigations involving allegations of price manipulation and other types of market abuses, Mr. Mills regularly counsels on swaps regulatory requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act and CFTC and SEC regulations, conducts derivatives and securities trading compliance training, counsels on CFTC and SEC registration and disclosure requirements, and develops internal compliance policies, procedures and controls. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Mills served as a litigator and regulatory attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the CFTC.
Steptoe Chair Phil West commented: “Charley is a great addition to the firm and augments our considerable CFTC and FERC enforcement and compliance practices. With the enhanced pace of regulatory enforcement as well as the role that the CFTC is playing in the post-Dodd Frank era in the swaps and derivatives markets and calls from some government officials and politicians for greater CFTC enforcement powers, Charley’s arrival couldn’t be more timely.”
Steptoe's Energy Group, led by Dave Raskin, is ranked by Chambers Global at the top of electric and oil and gas practices in the United States. Steptoe’s Financial Services practice includes scores of lawyers practicing in all of the firm’s offices.
“The ability to provide clients representation on these issues in a comprehensive manner linking high quality experience on statutory and legislative developments, regulatory rule making and interpretation, regulatory filings, compliance, enforcement and litigation is both rare and powerful,” Mr. West said. “Clients will be able to meet their needs before the CFTC and FERC if all of those disciplines can be employed in a coordinated and focused manner.”
At Steptoe, Mr. Mills joins an energy and financial services team that includes the following former CFTC and FERC officials:
- Former FERC Commissioner – Marc Spitzer
- Former CFTC Commissioner and Acting Chair – Michael Dunn
- Former CFTC Director, Division of Market Oversight – Richard Shilts
- Former FERC Enforcement Branch Chief – Dan Mullen
- Former FERC Counsel – Steve Ross
Mr. Mills also joins a regulatory policy team that includes:
- Former Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association President and Co-Chair – Micah Green
- Former Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Senior Associate General Counsel – Carolyn Walsh
- DC Bar Derivatives Committee Chair – Matt Kulkin
- Former Public Service Enterprise Group Executive VP, General Counsel – Lon Bouknight
- Former SEC Associate Director, Division of Enforcement – Chris Conte
- ABA Corporate Governance Committee Vice Chair – Philip Khinda
“This is a terrific group of lawyers and policy advisors that will provide clients with a strong team to tackle both more complicated and larger enforcement matters,” said Mr. Mills. “Together, along with Steptoe’s deep bench of players in its government investigations, litigation, white-collar criminal defense, FinTech, and international compliance and regulation practices, among others, we’ll have an incredibly comprehensive team to assist clients in CFTC and FERC compliance and enforcement, as well as policy advocacy and counsel before both agencies and Congress, counsel on regulatory rule-making before the two agencies and counsel on regulatory filings.”
Mr. Mills has been recognized by Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers, which in 2012 named him “Lawyer of the Year for Derivatives Law” in the Washington, DC – Baltimore region.
Mr. Mills earned his B.A., cum laude, from Occidental College and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught graduate level courses in securities and commodity futures law.
About Steptoe
Steptoe & Johnson LLP is an international law firm widely recognized for vigorous advocacy in complex litigation and arbitration, successful representation of clients before governmental agencies, and creative and practical advice in guiding business transactions. The firm has more than 500 lawyers and other professionals in offices in Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, Phoenix and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.