Prior to joining Pierson Ferdinand, Gavin was a Counsel in Baker McKenzie's Transactional Practice Group in North America. Prior to that, he was Senior Legal Counsel at a start-up FinTech broker-dealer and crypto-trading platform where he managed the firm's US money transmitter licensing applications and advised the firm’s various entities on broker-dealer and crypto-related regulatory obligations and strategic business decisions. Gavin also previously was Assistant General Counsel at a global financial services firm where he provided practical guidance to business, supervision, and compliance groups regarding securities regulations and FINRA rules, including implementation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s Regulation Best Interest. Gavin also served as Senior Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) where he was responsible for providing guidance on complex regulatory initiatives and FINRA rules and developing and drafting regulatory guidance and rule filings for submission to SEC. He also served in FINRA's Office of Fraud Detection and Market Intelligence (OFDMI) where he conducted regulatory investigations involving insider trading.

Practice Focus

Gavin possesses a unique combination of experience as a former regulator, in-house counsel at both established and startup financial services firms, and outside counsel at large multinational law firms. He leverages this unique experience in providing practical legal guidance and insights on the ever evolving US regulatory landscape in the securities, FinTech, and digital asset industries to a broad spectrum of retail and institutional clients across the globe.

Gavin advises on all aspects of broker-dealer status, formation and regulation matters, including: SEC, FINRA and state registration and licensing requirements, registration exemptions (foreign finders, issuer's exemption, Rule 15a-6, and M&A brokers), new member and continuing membership applications, suitability, Regulation Best Interest, advertising regulation, disclosure obligations, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, net capital and customer protection rules, margin, trade reporting, clearing and execution, books and records requirements, and revenue sharing.

Gavin also advises investment advisers on SEC and state registration issues, fiduciary duty obligations, Form ADV requirements, advertising and referral arrangement compliance under the Marketing Rule, and custody issues.

Gavin regularly counsels a variety of FinTech and digital asset businesses on US regulatory framework matters including: broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation, "security" status issues involving the sale of cryptocurrencies, crypto tokens, and NFTs, money transmission and payment provider licensing, crypto wallets and transfers, staking, DeFi, NFTs, intermediary arrangements, and AML/KYC compliance.

He also represents financial services clients across a variety of SEC, FINRA and state securities and money services regulatory and enforcement matters.