Counsel opening at FINRA in Washington DC

Senior Counsel (Regulatory/Trading and Markets – Equity and Fixed Income).
We Work to Protect Investors. Join our Team.

FINRA is seeking a well-qualified individual for our Counsel opening in Washington, DC. To be considered for this position, please submit your resume through our career site at www.finra.org/careers – no phone calls, please.

Job Summary:

Render legal advice and support in connection with the complete life cycle of the adoption of new regulatory initiatives, and serve as subject matter resource in one or more areas of legal expertise including fixed income securities, trading practices, and market structure.
This is senior-level professional work in which incumbents are defining their assigned roles, increasing their skills, and working under general guidance.

Essential Job Functions:
• Advise the Board of Directors and advisory committees with respect to high-impact, legally and politically complex and sensitive regulatory initiatives and rule changes under consideration by the Board.
• Brief and communicate complex and sensitive regulatory initiatives to senior executives of FINRA. Must be able to provide such analysis under urgent deadlines.
• Serve as the key source of legal expertise within FINRA in many subject areas, with an emphasis on trading and market issues in the fixed income area, and provide independent expert advice on questions in these subject areas. Subject areas include those to trading practices, market integrity and market structure such as fixed income trading, trade reporting requirements, order handling rules, Regulation NMS, short selling and public and private offerings. Support policy and rulemaking functions relating to FINRA quoting and trading mechanisms, including the Alternative Display Facility (ADF), OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) and Trade Reporting Facilities (TRF5).
• Prepare Board materials that contain sophisticated analyses and discussions of competing policy or political considerations necessary for the informed judgment of the issues by the Board.
• Review and draft new rule proposals; gather and incorporate views of industry participants, other regulators, and senior staff; and prepare rule filings to the SEC.
• Work closely with the Office of the Chief Economist in conducting economic impact assessments of rulemakings.
• Meet with senior staff of SEC, industry groups and other interested parties concerning regulatory initiatives.
• Represent FINRA before industry and self-regulatory organization/inter-market groups.
• Prepare Regulatory Notices and other correspondence with member firms and their outside counsel.
• Conduct and oversee legal and other research into matters of regulatory policy as necessary to (1) develop rule proposals and to respond to internal and external comments, and (2) respond to interpretive and exemptive requests.
• Take a leadership role in identifying and presenting original, creative, innovative, and sophisticated solutions and proposals for changes to existing rules, including the elimination or reduction of unnecessary regulation and the adoption of new rules.
• Serve as counsel to one or more operating departments of FINRA, providing expert-level legal advice and taking an active role in ensuring the success of departmental initiatives.
• Serve as primary liaison to FINRA advisory committees as assigned.
• Keep abreast of SEC, industry and other self-regulatory organization initiatives, and develop and maintain strong working relationships with SEC staff and other regulators.
• Attend and speak at regulatory policy public conferences and meetings of FINRA advisory committees on areas of subject matter expertise.
Other Responsibilities
• Lead or participate in ad hoc special projects and initiatives as requested.
• Provide status reports of assigned matters or projects.
• Develop communications as needed for Chief Legal Officer and other senior management.
• Provide and implement suggestions to increase efficiency and effectiveness of office procedures.
Education/Experience Requirements:
• Law degree from an accredited law school, admission to a bar, and a minimum of 6 to 8 years of relevant legal experience.
• Advanced working knowledge of fixed income securities, trading and market practices and rules, regulations and guidelines governing the securities industry.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent judgment and interpersonal skills.
Working Conditions:
• Normal office conditions.
• Occasional travel and extended hours may be required.
To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter and resume. A writing sample may be required as part of the submission.

The information provided above has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work of the position. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required.

Please note: If the “Apply Now” button on a job board posting does not take you directly to the FINRA Careers site, enter www.finra.org/careers into your browser to reach our site directly.

FINRA strives to make our career site accessible to all users. If you need a disability-related accommodation for completing the application process, please contact FINRA’s accommodation help line at 240.386.4865. Please note that this number is exclusively for inquiries regarding application accommodations.

In addition to a competitive salary, comprehensive health and welfare benefits, and incentive compensation, FINRA offers immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match. You will also be eligible for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution, our tuition reimbursement program and many other benefits. If you would like to contribute to our important mission and work collegially in a professional organization that values intelligence, integrity and initiative, consider a career with FINRA.

Important Information

FINRA’s Code of Conduct imposes restrictions on employees’ investments and requires financial disclosures that are uniquely related to our role as a securities regulator. FINRA employees are required to disclose to FINRA all brokerage accounts that they maintain, and those in which they control trading or have a financial interest (including any trust account of which they are a trustee or beneficiary and all accounts of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child who lives with the employee) and to authorize their broker-dealers to provide FINRA with duplicate statements for all of those accounts. All of those accounts are subject to the Code’s investment and securities account restrictions, and new employees must comply with those investment restrictions—including disposing of any security issued by a company on FINRA’s Prohibited Company List or obtaining a written waiver from their Executive Vice President—by the date they begin employment with FINRA. Employees may only maintain securities accounts that must be disclosed to FINRA at one or more securities firms that provide an electronic feed (e-feed) of data to FINRA, and must move securities accounts from other securities firms to a firm that provides an e-feed within three months of beginning employment.

As standard practice, employees must also execute FINRA’s Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement without qualification or modification and comply with the company’s policy on nepotism.

About FINRA

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is an independent, non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA works to protect investors and maintain market integrity in a public-private partnership with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while also benefiting from the SEC’s oversight. In its role as investor guardian, FINRA is informed, but not influenced, by the industry that it regulates. FINRA’s independent regulation plays a critical role in America’s financial system–all at no cost to taxpayers.

FINRA’s independent regulation plays a critical role in America’s financial system and touches virtually every aspect of the securities business—from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms.

All told, FINRA oversees more than 4,100 brokerage firms, more than 160,000 branch offices and almost 636,000 registered securities representatives. We also perform market regulation under contract for the major U.S. stock markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, NYSE MKT, The NASDAQ Stock Market and the EDGA and EDGX Exchanges.

In today's fast-paced and complex global economy, FINRA is a trusted advocate for investors, dedicated to keeping the markets fair and proactively addressing emerging regulatory issues before they harm investors or the markets.

FINRA has approximately 3,400 employees and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with 20 regional offices around the country.

Find out more about us and how we work—and view our current openings—at www.finra.org/careers.

Search Firm Representatives

Please be advised that FINRA is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, a valid written agreement and task order must be in place before any resumes are submitted to FINRA. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at FINRA without a valid written agreement and task order in place will be deemed the sole property of FINRA and no fee will be paid in the event that person is hired by FINRA.

FINRA is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, citizenship status, color, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status or any other classification protected by federal state or local laws as appropriate, or upon the protected status of the person’s relatives, friends or associates.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-741.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals on the basis of disability, and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-300.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified protected veterans, and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified protected veterans.

0 members like this