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Areas of Practice
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Professional Background
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Professional/Civic Activities
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Speaking Engagements
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Court Admissions
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Bar Admissions
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Education
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Additional Information
Areas of Practice
Mr. Mills’ practice concentrates on securities and derivatives enforcement, regulatory counseling, and litigation. His clients include public and private companies, corporate officers, hedge funds, traders, energy marketers, broker-dealers, investment advisers commodity trading advisors and pool operators, and other professionals and executives. He defends clients in investigations and enforcement actions of the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, FERC, DOJ, state regulators and self-regulatory organizations and in private litigation and arbitration. He also regularly counsels and represents clients in agency and regulatory matters including company-specific matters, agency rulemakings, and such issues as registration, disclosure, derivatives trading compliance, regulatory audits, internal compliance procedures, and fiduciary duties. He has represented many companies in listing and de-listing proceedings before the principal securities exchanges.
In 2005, the Compliance Reporter, a publication of Institutional Investor, honored Mr. Mills as one of its “Lawyers of the Year” for his precedent-setting victory in WHX Corp. v. SEC, 362 F.3d 854 (D.C. Cir. 2004). The Best Lawyers in America has selected Mr. Mills as one of its Best Lawyers for Derivatives Law and Securities Law.
Representative experience includes:
- Defense of SEC, CFTC, FINRA, FERC and DOJ investigations.
- Litigated Matters – E.g., U.S. v. Radley, 659 F. Supp. 3d 803 (S.D. Tex. 2009), appeal pending (dismissal of criminal indictment of former BP trader for alleged commodity price manipulation and wire fraud); Howard v. SEC, 376 F.3d 1136 (D.C. Cir. 2004); WHX Corp. v. SEC, 362 F.3d 854 (D.C. Cir. 2004); and In re Richardson, 2005 SEC LEXIS 414 (SEC 2005)
- Settlements – E.g., In re Dominion Resources, Inc. (CFTC 2006); In re Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (SEC 2005); In re Littell (SEC 2003); CFTC v. American Electric Power, CA, No. 2:03-cv-891 (E.D. Ohio 2005); In re DiPlacido (CFTC 2002).
- Defense of many private securities actions in federal and state court.
- Internal investigations, securities and derivatives compliance reviews and training.
- Counseling commodity traders on derivatives trading compliance, including, among others, utilities, natural gas pipeline companies, hedge funds, agricultural businesses, energy storage operators, commodity trading advisors and commodity pools.
- Directing the defense of over 750 securities and commodities arbitrations before the FINRA, NYSE, AAA, NFA and other forums.
Professional Background
- Attorney, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Attorney Office of the General Counsel and Office of Hearings and Appeals, 1977 – 1983
Professional/Civic Activities
- Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center (1994 – present)
- Fraud and Fiduciary Duties Under the Federal Securities Laws (2000 – present)
- Regulation of Commodity Futures Transactions (1994 – 2000)
- American Bar Association
- Chair of the Derivatives and Futures Law Committee (Business Law Section)
- Member of Federal Regulation of Securities Committee (Business Law Section)
- National Futures Association (Hearing Committee)
- New York City Bar Association (Futures & Derivatives Committee, Chair, Subcommittee on Litigation)
- District of Columbia Bar
- Former Executive Member of Steering Committee of the Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Section\
- Futures Industry Association, Former Member of the Executive Committee for the Law & Compliance Division
- Board of Editors, Futures & Derivatives Law Report (Thomson/West)
- American Bar Foundation Fellow
Speaking Engagements
- Institutional Investors and Derivatives: The Impact of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Legislation, ABA Annual Meeting, 2010
- Law and Compliance Conference on the Regulation of Futures, Derivatives and OTC Products, Futures Industry Association, 2000 – 2010
- Futures and Derivatives 2010, NYC Bar Association, 2010
- Fundamentals of Broker-Dealer Regulation, Practising Law Institute, NYC, 2007 – 2010
- Private Actions Under the Federal Securities Laws, D.C. Bar, 2003 – 2010
- Comparing the “Wells Processes” of the SEC, CFTC and FERC: Is There Room for Improvement? Derivatives and Futures Law Committee, Winter Meeting, 2008
- Private Actions Under the Federal Securities Laws, D.C. Bar, 2003 – 2010
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth Circuits
- U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, District of Maryland, Eastern District of Virginia, Southern District of New York and Northern and Central Districts of California
Bar Admissions
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Bar of California
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Bar of District of Columbia
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Bar of Maryland
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Bar of New York
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Bar of Virginia
Education
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J.D.,
Georgetown University Law Center
(1977)
(Dean's List)
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B.A.,
Occidental College
(1974)
(cum laude)
Additional Information
Representative Publications
- Broker-Dealer Regulation (PLI 2010)
- Contributing author, “Customer Transactions: Suitability, Unauthorized Trading and Churning”
- “Regulated Wagering on Events Markets: Analysis,” World Online Gambling Law Report, co-authored with Linda J. Shorey and David R. Overstreet (August 2008)
- The Securities Enforcement Manual – Tactics and Strategies (ABA, 2d ed. 2007)
- Money Manager’s Compliance Guide (Thompson Publishing Group)
- Co-author, “Regulation of Commodities” and “Enforcement”
- “2nd Circuit: Credit Default Swap Terms Must Be Strictly Construed,” Futures & Derivatives Law Report (April 2007)
- “Regulation Through Litigation: Is the CFTC’s Authority Expanding Into OTC and Cash Markets?”, Futures Industry Magazine (February 2006)
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