Richard Wallace is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP where he is a member of the Securities Enforcement & Litigation and Securities, Commodities & Exchange Regulation Practices.
Mr. Wallace’s practice focuses on representing securities broker-dealers, hedge funds, mutual funds, and investment advisers and their employees in SEC and FINRA investigations and disciplinary proceedings. He helps clients with equity and fixed income trading issues and regulatory responses to developments in the markets. Mr. Wallace has also acted as an independent consultant on compliance with Regulation SHO in connection with an SEC settlement.
Mr. Wallace has represented various broker-dealers in SEC and SRO investigations of sales practices, pricing, equity and fixed income trading, and back office compliance and related supervision. He regularly represents broker-dealers in connection with markups, reporting, short sales, and the trading requirements of exchanges. Mr. Wallace has conducted internal investigations for clients in the financial services area. He has also counseled various market participants in connection with algorithmic and high-frequency trading.
Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Wallace was vice president and chief counsel in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Market Regulation Department (2001-2008), where he oversaw disciplinary actions involving market abuse, insider trading, market manipulation, and rules pertaining to market makers. The Market Regulation Department is responsible for surveillance of the Nasdaq and over-the-counter equities markets along with the TRACE and municipal fixed income markets. He also worked with FINRA’s Market Regulation Committee on the adoption and revision of FINRA rules dealing with customer protection, market making, and reporting.
Mr. Wallace also served as branch chief and attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement (1990-1996), handling investigations and litigation for a variety of high-profile cases, including SEC v. Eddie Antar (insider trading), In re Caterpillar, Inc. (financial disclosure), and In re BT Securities, Inc. (derivatives).
Mr. Wallace has been a frequent speaker at conferences sponsored by ALI-ABA, FINRA, the SEC, the National Society of Compliance Professionals, and the Security Traders Association.
He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Samuel P. King, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Mr. Wallace earned his law degree from Berkeley Law, University of California (J.D., 1984), where he was executive editor of the California Law Review. He is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley (A.B., with honors, 1981).
Mr. Wallace is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and California.
Publications:
- Co-author, “Clearly Erroneous Trades, Circuit Breakers, and Related Developments,” BNA's Securities Regulation & Law Report (February 28, 2011);
- “Assessing FINRA Priorities and Results,” Financial Services Law360 (February 23, 2011);
- Co-author, “Goldman Sachs and the Wells Process,” Financial Services Law360 (May 24, 2010);
- Co-author, “Use of Independent Consultants as a Remedy in Securities Enforcement Actions,” BNA’s Securities Law & Regulation Report (April 19, 2010);
- “FINRA Priorities and Results,” Financial Services Law360 (March 17, 2010); and
- Contributing author, Securities Enforcement Treatise: Counseling and Defense (Matthew Bender, September 2005).