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Mr. Merolla is a partner in LeClairRyan's New York, NY office. His practice is concentrated in securities and investment regulation; equities market structure issues; broker-dealer advisory matters, including regulatory investigations and examinations; regulatory compliance; and corporate governance. As leader of LeClairRyan's New York office, Mr. Merolla's years of experience and background in the securities industry enhances and broadens the scope of the Firm's Financial Services Practice Group. Before joining LeClairRyan, Mr. Merolla for over 20 years has served as a senior in-house counsel within the securities industry -- most recently as General Counsel of a public company, Instinet Group Incorporated, and its affiliated broker-dealers, the main businesses of which were an equities trading platform and institutional equities brokerage. Mr. Merolla had previously served as senior legal counsel to two large international fully-diversified investment banks and broker-dealers, Goldman Sachs & Co., Inc. and Drexel Burnham Lambert Incorporated. His responsibilities covered global legal, compliance and internal audit functions, equities advisory support, litigation and regulatory proceedings, and public company and corporate governance advisory work. Mr. Merolla spent his early career years as a litigation associate at Shearman & Sterling. Mr. Merolla has substantial experience advising financial institutions and their senior management on a variety of matters, including, but not limited to, issues relating to trading, sales and research; insider trading; market manipulation; market structure; compliance; mergers and acquisitions; international transactions; mortgage-backed securities and credit markets; personnel matters; corporate governance; litigation and arbitration; and investigations. In his many years of practice within the securities industry, he had regularly dealt and communicated with industry regulators, such as the SEC, NASD, and NYSE, and also with foreign regulators, on regulatory and enforcement matters. As a former General Counsel, Mr. Merolla understands the role and pressures associated with being in-house counsel and is able to advise clients on a host of issues faced daily by in-house attorneys. Mr. Merolla recently served as President of the SIFMA's Compliance and Legal Division (2005-2006), having first become a member of the Division's Executive Committee in 1983. As such, he has organized and administered many of the Division's educational seminars and has frequently in the past been a speaker at these and other legal conferences. He has also served as a member of the Securities Industry Association's Federal Regulation Committee (2004-2005). Mr. Merolla periodically serves as an arbitrator for FINRA. Mr. Merolla is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of the New York State Bar, having been admitted to New York State's Appellate Division, Second Department, in 1975. He is also admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Legal Experience LeClairRyan, New York, New York, 2006-present Instinet Group Incorporated, New York, New York, 1999-2006 Goldman Sachs & Co., Inc., New York, New York, 1993-1999 The Drexel Burnham Lambert Group Inc., New York, New York, 1983-1993 Shearman & Sterling, New York, New York, 1974-1982 Education Fordham University School of Law, JD, cum laude, 1974 Fordham University, B.A., Political Science, 1968 Extended Information Speaking Engagements SIFMA Compliance and Legal Division Annual Seminar, Scottsdale, Arizona, March 27, 2007, Market Structure Panel SIFMA Compliance and Legal Division Regional Seminar, Washington, DC, October 25, 2007, Recent Developments in Compliance Panel. Published Works What’s Right about the Self-regulatory Merger, Securities Industry News, January 15, 2007; (Article in favor of the NASD/NYSE Regulatory Merger). Principles-based versus rules-based: What really matters, Crain’s Investment News, November 19, 2007; (Article de-emphasizing principles v. rules debate and emphasizing outcomes, i.e., rules modernization, rules harmonization, etc.) |
