Former CFTC Senior Legal Counsel Danielle Abada joins Mayer Brown
New York, October 12 /PRNewswire/ — Mayer Brown today announced that Danielle Abada has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the capital markets practice. She joins from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where she served as Senior Special Counsel in the Division of Market Participants, and previously as Senior Legal Counsel to CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson.
Chairman Jon Van Gorp said, “We are pleased to welcome Danielle to the firm. Her experience at the CFTC will help clients navigate a rapidly evolving regulatory environment for derivatives and digital assets, which has seen significant innovation and market growth in recent years.”
During her tenure at the CFTC, Danielle provided guidance on complex legal, regulatory, and policy matters affecting CFTC-regulated entities and advanced the Commission’s key priorities in regulation and market development, including crypto assets and blockchain technology, prediction markets and event contracts, and artificial intelligence.
Before joining government service, Danielle represented financial institutions and fintech companies in a wide range of regulatory, compliance, transactional, and legislative matters during her private practice. She has also advised clients on emerging and evolving technologies such as distributed ledger, digital assets, and artificial intelligence. Danielle has provided counsel on banking, derivatives, and securities regulation and transactions for institutions including banks, swap dealers, broker-dealers, exchanges, asset and investment management firms, hedge funds, and proprietary trading firms.
Danielle will work alongside the firm’s lawyers specializing in derivatives and structured products, as well as its fintech practice. Mayer Brown has been named “Law Firm of the Year (Overall)” in the Americas Derivatives Awards by GlobalCapital for five consecutive years, most recently in 2026. The firm is ranked Tier 1 in multiple categories for derivatives and structured products by Chambers USA, IFLR1000, and The Legal 500 US. It is also ranked Tier 1 in fintech by The Legal 500 US and recognized as a leading firm in five U.S. fintech legal categories by Chambers FinTech, including corporate, securities, and financing.
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