Laura S Pruitt

Career

Laura Pruitt counsels broker-dealers, alternative trading systems, investment advisers, transfer agents, Fintech firms and other market participants on securities law and market regulation issues, with particular emphasis on broker-dealer status issues (including “finders” and referral arrangements), registration and compliance, trading rules and market structure issues, investment adviser and transfer agent regulation, and anti-money laundering compliance. Laura also offers expert advice on whether tokens, NFTs and related arrangements in the Fintech area constitute securities and the resulting consequences if they do. She additionally represents clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission and self-regulatory organizations in connection with regulatory exams, investigations and enforcement actions, and she has conducted independent compliance reviews in connection with the settlement of several SEC enforcement actions. In addition to practicing as a litigator on securities class actions, hostile takeovers and other matters early in her career, Laura also spent seven years at the SEC in both the General Counsel’s Office and the Division of Trading & Markets before returning to private practice. She is a member of Jones Day’s Financial Markets practice, resident in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.