Wilmer Partner Dan Berkovitz, Up for CFTC Seat, Reveals Big Law Income, Client List
Dan Berkovitz, a Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner in Washington and nominee for a Democratic seat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, represented some of the country's largest financial institutions.
May 07, 2018 at 10:04 AM
5 minute read
Dan Berkovitz, a Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner and nominee for a Democratic seat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, reported earning $1.18 million in partnership income at the firm, according to a newly released financial disclosure.
Berkovitz, co-chair of Wilmer's futures and derivatives practices, formerly served as general counsel to the commodities board during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, when he joined Wilmer. At the CFTC, Berkovitz helped implement the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reforms. President Donald Trump nominated Berkovitz in April.
Financial disclosures, mandatory for many executive nominees, offer a public peek into the compensation and client matters at some of the country's biggest law firms. Berkovitz's partner income includes 2017 and several months of 2018. He had been a 30-year public servant before leaving the CFTC for Wilmer.
Wilmer's profits per partner last year eclipsed $2 million for the first time, a rise that came amid a 5 percent contraction in the size of the firm's equity partnership, according to National Law Journal reporting in March. Average partner profits ticked up nearly 14 percent to $2.12 million last year. Revenue per lawyer rose 2.7 percent to nearly $1.31 million.
“I am honored to be nominated by the President as a Commissioner to the CFTC, and I look forward to consideration by the United States Senate,” Berkovitz said in a statement.
Berkovitz said in his disclosures that Wilmer paid him in April for his final distribution from the firm's 2017 profits. The value of that payment was listed at between $500,000 and $1 million. “As a result of this payment, WilmerHale has fully compensated me for all amounts owed pursuant to my partnership agreement,” he wrote in an ethics agreement, also released Monday. “I will receive no other compensation from WilmerHale.”
Wilmer would return to Berkovitz, after his confirmation, the funds in his capital account. He listed the value at between $250,000 and $500,000. Wilmer would also pay a lump-sum distribution to Berkovitz of assets in his defined benefits plan, a standard practice for partners who've left the firm.
Berkovitz identified 20 corporate clients for whom he said he provided legal services to last year. Those companies included JP Morgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, UBS Financial Services Inc., Barclays Financial Corp. and Citigroup Inc. Other clients included the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz; Georgetown University Law Center; Bloomberg LP; and Alcoa Corp. Ethics rules restrict federal agency nominees from participating in matters that involve former clients for at least a year.
Berkovitz would join the commodities agency at a time of broadening federal regulatory scrutiny of virtual currencies. A New York federal judge in March, finding cryptocurrencies as a commodity, said the CFTC has authority to enforce its oversight powers. The board is led by Christopher Giancarlo, an Obama-era Republican member whom Trump reappointed.
“We are entering a new digital era in world financial markets. As we saw with the development of the internet, we cannot put the technology genie back in the bottle,” Giancarlo told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in February. “Virtual currencies mark a paradigm shift in how we think about payments, traditional financial processes and engaging in economic activity. Ignoring these developments will not make them go away, nor is it a responsible regulatory response.”
Berkovitz's previous boss at the CFTC, Gary Gensler, the Obama-era CFTC chairman, this year was named senior adviser to the MIT Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative.
“2018 is going to be a very interesting time,” Gensler told The New York Times last month. “Over 1,000 previously issued initial coin offerings, and over 100 exchanges that offer I.C.O.s, are going to need to sort out how to come into compliance with U.S. securities law.”
Berkovitz would be the latest Wilmer lawyer to snag a Trump administration nomination. The White House picked Jeffrey Kessler, a regulatory and government affairs counsel at the firm, for a U.S. Commerce Department enforcement and compliance position. Securities litigation partner Gail Ennis was nominated for inspector general at the Social Security Administration.
The Trump administration's nomination of consultant Dawn Stump for a seat on the five-member CFTC also is pending. Stump, sole owner of Stump Strategic, lobbied in recent years for the Futures Industry Association and the NYSE Group Inc.
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