A&O Shearman

Financial Services Regulatory

Senior Counsel

C. Wallace represents foreign and domestic financial institutions as to a variety of securities and banking regulatory matters, with a particular focus on the private wealth industry and the cross-border marketing of investment services and financial products. He regularly represents clients before U.S. federal and state financial regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Before rejoining the A&O Shearman in 2019, he served as Senior Advisor and Counsel to Acting Chairman and Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, advising the Commissioner on matters pertaining to the Division of Corporation Finance, the Office of the Chief Accountant, the Office of International Affairs, and the Division of Enforcement. He was also designated as the SEC’s observer of the FINRA FinTech Industry Committee.

From 2014 to 2017, he was a senior associate in the firm’s U.S. Bank Regulatory Group, immediately prior to which he served as the Executive Director of Research for the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, a non-profit research organization dedicated to enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets and the stability of the U.S. financial system, under the direction of Professor Hal S. Scott. Previously, he served for four years as an associate in the Tokyo and Hong Kong offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, advising issuers and underwriters on debt and equity capital markets transactions. Upon graduation from Harvard Law School, he served as law clerk to the Hon. Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

He is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, a member of the Exchequer Club, and a member of the Financial Services & Corporate Governance Committee of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project. He is proficient in eight languages at various degrees of fluency.