Sidley Austin has beefed up its regulatory and compliance capability with the hiring of Alan Linning, a former executive director of enforcement at Hong Kong’s securities regulator the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
Alan Linning, Sidley Austin |
Joining Sidley’s commercial litigation and regulatory practice in Hong Kong as partner on July 1, Linning most recently held the position of managing director and head of Asia regional compliance at JPMorgan Chase.
At the US financial services firm, he managed the core compliance functions of anti money laundering, disclosure of interests, personal account dealing, code of conduct and the FCPA; and advised on reputation risk issues.
Although Linning also served as co-head of an international law firm’s disputes resolution practice earlier in his career, Sidley will be most interested in his ties to the SFC.
Linning ran the enforcement division of the SFC and was responsible for all aspects of policy and enforcement of the SFC’s statutory powers under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO). As a member of the SFC Board, he was involved in directing the discharge of its statutory objectives, in the formulation and implementation of strategy, and in all major policy initiatives in the Hong Kong financial markets.
Recent economic conditions are leading to increased regulation of the financial markets and financial institutions. At Sidley, Linning will advise clients on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious matters and compliance issues, regulatory policies and developments, and preventative advice in response to new laws, regulations, guidelines, codes, and disciplinary decisions or judicial decisions.
Linning will assist clients in responding to formal and informal regulatory inquiries and investigations, and represent them or their employees in regulatory action, if necessary. He will also advise corporations, creditors and liquidators on a range of insolvency-related issues as well as on general commercial litigation matters.
Tom Albrecht, a member of Sidley’s management committee, acknowledged the importance of Linning’s regulatory experience to the firm. “Throughout Asia, our clients are coping with a more complex regulatory environment and the current economic conditions have also triggered an increased amount of litigation and other enforcement actions. Alan has a wealth of experience and a terrific reputation in all of these substantive areas.”
Linning is qualified to practice Hong Kong law and is also admitted in Australia and Scotland.
Asialaw will be examining the recent rise in regulatory disputes in its forthcoming webcast, scheduled for Tuesday, July 21 at 5pm Hong Kong time (10am London time). Simply sign up to the seminar here.