James’s regulatory practice covers a broad range of issues affecting emerging and established companies, focusing on advising companies in connection with their compliance obligations under the federal securities laws. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School where he co-teaches a course on blockchain and the law. His thought leadership has appeared in a variety of industry and legal publications, including CoinDesk, the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, and Law360.

James previously worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he represented foreign sovereigns, central banks, state-owned entities, and global financial institutions, including in connection with securities class action litigation, disputes related to foreign exchange high-frequency trading platforms, and regulatory investigations into allegedly manipulative trading practices. He also served as a clerk to The Honorable John Dowdell of the Northern District of Oklahoma and interned for Ricardo Luis Lorenzetti, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Argentina.

Education

University of Utah (BA and MA)
University of Michigan Law School (JD)

Bar Admissions

State of New York
*Admitted in New York only. Work performed in the District of Columbia performed under the supervision of a licensed D.C. Bar member.

Zachary carries nearly fifteen years of practical legal and regulatory experience advising companies, investors, and market participants regarding their compliance obligations under federal securities laws. His experience spans nine years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporate Finance and Office of the General Counsel. Among other things, Zachary served as a special Advisor to the SEC’s General Counsel and later as Senior Special Counsel to Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. Prior to the SEC, he practiced at Latham & Watkins. He is an expert on the federal securities laws, particularly issues around small company capital formation and various exemptions from registration under the Securities Act of 1933. Zachary helped lead key internal SEC investigations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and was key to many of the SEC’s regulatory policy decisions made following adoption of the JOBS Act. He was the principal drafter of the Regulation A proposing and adopting release (aka Reg A+), as well as the SEC’s proposing release on Intrastate and Regional Crowdfunding exemptions.

Education

Trinity College, London (BFA)
Guildford School of Acting (MA)
UC Berkeley School of Law (JD)

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia
State of California

Joshua has worked closely with developers, funds, exchanges, and investors in the fintech and blockchain space for the past six years. His counsel draws from experience at tech-forward international law firms Cooley, White & Case, and Goodwin Procter. As a recognized thought leader, Joshua has been published in CoinDesk, Coin Center, and Bitcoin Magazine. He has counseled and presented to the Money Transmitter Regulators Association, the New York City Bar Association, congressional hill staffers, Rhode Island state regulators, the Israel Securities Authority, and at various international industry events. His expertise spans legal, financial, and regulatory topics with a focus on securities, commodities, lending, consumer protection, and payments laws. Joshua co-teaches a course on blockchain and the law at the University of Michigan Law School.

Education

NYU (BA), University of Arizona (MFA)
University of Michigan Law School (JD)

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia
State of New York

Jenny has formerly worked as an attorney at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”). In her capacity there, she assisted in the oversight and supervision of financial market infrastructure and drafted ASIC guidance regarding distributed ledger technology. Jenny has published numerous articles regarding complex areas of blockchain technology and law, such as decentralized clearing and settlement, freezing of digital assets, and classification of such assets under international law. Prior to joining Blakemore Fallon, she consulted on GDPR, CCPA, and other data privacy issues at PwC. Jenny focuses on issues related to U.S. securities laws and state money transmitter laws.

Education

University of New South Wales (B Comm, B Law)

Bar Admissions

State of New York
Supreme Court of New South Wales (admitted as solicitor)

Peter provides regulatory, transactional, and strategic product advisement to early-stage financial technology innovators. He primarily advises companies offering payment processing, payment method integration and aggregation, machine learning, digital currency, and blockchain technology products and services. Peter’s clients include multiple fintech “unicorns” and Y Combinator graduates. Collectively, his clients have raised more than one and a half billion dollars in venture capital funding. Prior to law school, Peter channeled his passion for technology into a career in product management for several startups in the enterprise software industry in Silicon Valley. Peter combines his technology experience with a deep understanding of state, federal and global financial services regulatory regimes across a broad spectrum – bank service provider compliance, money transmission, stored value, prepaid access, unclaimed property, consumer credit, fair lending, privacy and data security, payment processing, international remittances, payment network rules, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing, and consumer protection. He applies his knowledge to assist clients with product counseling, contract drafting and negotiations, terms of service, regulatory analysis, compliance policy development, corporate transactions, and “outside general counsel” assistance. Peter regularly negotiates complex agreements with start-up friendly banks and service providers.

Before joining Ketsal, Peter was founder and partner at Ouroboros LLP, a legal and consulting boutique in the fintech and blockchain space based in Washington, DC. Prior to Ouroboros, Peter advised some of the world’s largest financial institutions, prepaid, credit and debit card issuers and program managers, payment processors, money transmitters, consumer and commercial lenders, e-commerce platforms, digital wallet providers, customer loyalty platforms, and Fortune 100 technology companies at a Top 100 law firm, and at a prominent financial services boutique. 

In his spare time, Peter enjoys building art projects for Burning Man, fixing up old boats with his partner Erica, and taking long walks with his chow-chow Oliver.

Education

Bachelor of Science in French and Linguistics, Georgetown University
Juris Doctor, Tulane University Law School

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

Lara Romansic is a seasoned trial attorney with nearly two decades of experience focusing on high-stakes complex litigation. She represents parties in disputes concerning securities, complex financial products, derivatives, mergers and acquisitions and a wide variety of general commercial matters, frequently in a cross border context. Lara has represented a wide variety of foreign and domestic financial institutions, hedge funds, investors, tech companies, insurance companies, a foreign government, manufacturers, multi-national corporations, and corporate officers and directors, in litigations in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as in domestic and international arbitration and before federal investigative agencies. In addition, outside the context of litigation, Lara also advises clients concerning their commercial transactions in order to help clients evaluate and manage prospective risk of litigation or other legal liability. Prior to joining Blakemore Fallon, Lara spent almost twenty years practicing at two major international law firms, Steptoe & Johnson LLP and McDermott, Will & Emery.

Education

Cornell University (B.A.)
Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.)

Bar Admissions

New York, District of Columbia

Laurie previously served as a regulatory attorney with Perkins Coie, where she focused on advising blockchain and fintech clients. Laurie advises fintech platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges, token issuers, and broker-dealers through myriad international regulatory and compliance considerations. Throughout her career, she has helped leading innovators better understand how blockchain-related technology falls within existing state and federal financial regulatory frameworks—with a specialization in state and federal money transmission regulatory matters, including anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance obligations. Laurie’s expertise spans regulation of centralized and decentralized exchanges, token issuance, and smart contracts, as well as payments and gaming platforms, under applicable U.S. state and federal law.

Education

University of Washington (BA), University of Miami (MS)
University of Washington School of Law (JD)

Bar Admissions

State of Washington

Julian previously served as a corporate attorney for top international law firms Davis Polk & Wardwell, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Cooley, where his practice focused on the representation of emerging technology companies and their investors. He specializes in formations and structuring, corporate transactions and financings, contract negotiation, management of ongoing operations, and efficient exits. As an alumnus of seed accelerator Y-Combinator, Julian has first-hand experience with the lifecycle of a startup and enjoys advising passionate entrepreneurs as they bring their ideas to fruition. He was among the first lawyers to pioneer creative structures beyond the SAFT for the sale of digital assets.

Education

Cornell University (BA)
University of Chicago (JD)
Y-Combinator 2011 Summer Class

Bar Admissions

State of New York