Kevin M. Foley - Lawyer in Chicago, IL

Kevin Foley is the compass financial services firms rely on in navigating the world of derivatives regulation. He helps the largest futures commission merchants as well as derivatives clearing organizations, proprietary trading firms and foreign exchanges comply with the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For more than 25 years, he has served as counsel to the Futures Industry Association, guiding the industry through transformative events like the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Kevin has earned wide respect in the industry for his experience, depth of knowledge and leadership on challenging issues. Clients know that he brings an encyclopedic understanding of the CEA and CFTC rules to his engagements. He knows the law, the regulatory purpose underlying specific rules and their enforcement history.Earlier in his career, Kevin served for four years as chief counsel of the CFTC's Division of Trading and Markets. That experience helps him to assume a regulator's perspective, provide more comprehensive advice to his clients and craft effective arguments for relief, if necessary. For example, when conflicting US and UK regulatory requirements appeared to prevent US futures commission merchants from using customer securities to support those customers' trading on UK markets, Kevin worked with the CFTC to obtain relief for his client.

Industry organizations consistently select Kevin to represent them on high-stakes policy matters. He advised on a study by the National Futures Association and Futures Industry Institute that developed recommendations for best practices in order entry and transmission of exchange-traded transactions. In 2012, he was recognized for his exemplary efforts on behalf of FIA in formulating the industry's response to the Dodd-Frank legislation before the CFTC.