Overview
John Ziaukas, with over 30 years’ experience as a lawyer, including over 10 years on Wall Street, has been practicing law in New York and Los Angeles since 1985 and serves clients including investment advisers, commodity pool operators, commodity trading advisors, broker dealers and introducing brokers.
Commodity Futures
Mr. Ziaukas has been helping commodity futures clients to navigate CFTC and NFA laws, regulations and rules since 1988. His Wall Street training and experience enable him to assist in a timely, responsive and sophisticated way with all phases of structuring and registering projects in the alternative asset space, and his clients include both registered CPOs, CTAs and IBs and exempt entities. As Dodd Frank regulation has exploded in complexity since 2010, Mr. Ziaukas has also helped his commodity futures clients to negotiate and structure their ISDA relationships with swap counterparties around the world. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear in a cost-effective way at the highest professional standards for his commodity futures law clients.
Securities
Mr. Ziaukas has been helping investment management and broker-dealer clients with their SEC, FINRA and state regulatory and compliance obligations, as well as their daily operations, since 1985. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear in a cost-effective way to provide legal service at the highest professional standards for his securities clients.
Hedge Funds
Mr. Ziaukas has been helping clients to form private hedge funds since 1985. His Wall Street training and experience enable him to assist in a timely, responsive and sophisticated way with all phases of structuring hedge funds and bringing them to market. He has focused on the interplay of commodity and securities law and how it affects a hedge fund expecting to trade both securities and commodity futures (including swaps), which can result in the Fund’s manager having to register both as an IA and CPO. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear in a cost-effective way at the highest professional standards for his hedge fund clients.
Asset Management
Mr. Ziaukas has been advising clients in the asset management space since 1986. His Wall Street training and experience enable him to assist in a timely, responsive and sophisticated way with the variety of issues confronting a US asset manager in a post-Dodd Frank world, including both SEC and CFTC requirements that arise when an asset manager intends to trade both securities and commodity futures (now including swaps) for its clients. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear in a cost-effective way to provide legal services at the highest professional standards for his asset management clients.
Private Offerings of Securities
Mr. Ziaukas has been counseling issuers about developing their businesses through structuring private offerings of securities to accredited investors since 1985. His Wall Street training and experience enable him to assist his clients in a timely, responsive and sophisticated way with all phases of structuring Reg. D offerings for a variety of projects. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear cost-effectively to provide legal services at the highest professional standard for his clients making private offerings of securities.
Business Formation and Governance
Mr. Ziaukas has been helping clients to structure their own new businesses since 1985. His Wall Street training and experience enable him to assist in a timely, responsive and sophisticated way with the formation of the new business entity and establishment of best practices for its ongoing operations. As a solo practitioner, Mr. Ziaukas is able to bring his Wall Street training and long experience to bear in a cost-effective way for his clients building new businesses.
High Net Worth Investors
Mr. Ziaukas has been helping High Net Worth Investors to evaluate the legal aspects of their investments since 1985. Mr. Ziaukas’s Wall Street experience and training enable him to assist HNW Investor clients with timeliness and sophistication and as a solo practitioner, he can bring that training and experience to bear cost-effectively, enabling him to provide Wall Street-level legal counsel to his clients, but without having the client feel lost in the crowd at a large Wall Street law firm.