Joseph C. Lombard attorney profile image

Joseph C. Lombard

jlombard@mmlawus.com
C: (312) 543-7750
1001 G Street, N.W.
Seventh Floor
Washington, DC 20001
T: (202) 661-7028
F: (202) 661-7059
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Practice Areas
Education
  • J.D., cum laude, Georgetown University Law Center, 1990
  • M.Sc. (Econ) with distinction London School of Economics, 1987
  • B.A., cum laude, Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, 1986
Admissions
  • District of Columbia
  • Maryland
  • Virginia (Inactive)
Practice Areas

Mr. Lombard advises exchanges, clearing agencies, trading and advisory firms and related individuals regarding trading and markets regulation, and represents those clients in regulatory inquiries conducted by the SEC, FINRA and other SROs.  His regulatory counselling often involves proposals to the SEC to establish new trading and clearing systems and processes and related requests for exemptions and no action relief.  His defense of clients in government and SRO investigations focuses on equity and options market structure issues, consolidated and proprietary market data, and other complex trading-related issues. He brings to the firm more than twenty years of business, legal, policy and regulatory experience.  He served as the chief executive of a groundbreaking exchange-affiliated brokerage firm, a market structure adviser to SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, an enforcement defense attorney at a leading global law firm.  He began his legal career as an attorney in the SEC Division of Enforcement attorney.

Mr. Lombard was a member of the executive team at Archipelago Holdings, where he was President of Wave Securities, the company’s institutional electronic brokerage subsidiary, from 2001 to 2006. He also held the senior executive position at the company’s U.K and Canadian subsidiaries. He was a key participant in the sale of Wave to Merrill Lynch in early 2006, the time of the closing of the historic NYSE/Archipelago merger.  From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Lombard served as Managing Director in the Global Equities division of Merrill Lynch, reporting to the head of Global Cash Equity Trading.

Prior to his tenure at Archipelago, Mr. Lombard was Senior Counsel for Market Regulation to SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt from 1999 to 2001. He advised Chairman Levitt on all matters relating to equity and options market structure during that time, with a particular focus on policy and legal issues relating to electronic markets.

From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Lombard practiced law at the Washington, D.C. office of O’Melveny & Myers, counseling broker-dealer and investment advisor clients and representing them in regulatory and enforcement inquiries. During that time, he was also Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a masters level course on the enforcement of the federal securities laws. Mr. Lombard began his legal career in 1990 as a staff attorney in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC.

Representative Engagements

    Government Investigations and Litigation

  • Assisted preparation of CEO of financial institution for testimony related to high frequency trading and equity market structure issues before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the Senate Banking Committee.
  • Counsel of record for leading national securities exchanges in consolidated putative class actions filed in New York federal District Court following the release of Michael Lewis’ Flash Boys. The plaintiff alleged contractual breaches arising out of the exchanges’ method of data dissemination. Our clients obtained a full dismissal of all claims by the District Court.
  • Counsel of record for one of the world’s largest independent market makers in a putative class action alleging defendant market makers violated the Securities Act and state laws by selling unregistered securities. Our client successfully moved to dismiss 29 of plaintiffs’ 30 claims, and then we led the remaining defendants in successfully moving for summary judgment dismissing the remaining claim in Ohio federal court.
  • Represented a major equity market participant in responding to a New York Attorney General’s Office subpoena related to high frequency trading issues.

    • Trading and Markets Counseling

  • Represented FINRA and several national securities exchanges in drafting proposed SRO pilot plan to increase tick size.
  • Represented leading national securities exchange in investigation by the SEC Division of Enforcement related to exchange order type functionality, which concluded with a formal closing letter from the Division.
  • Representing a leading global derivatives marketplace with respect to securities regulatory matters before the SEC Division of Trading and Markets.
  • Representing leading fixed income ATSs regarding TRACE reporting issues.