NEW YORK (May 24, 2016) – Reed Smith LLP today announced that Kari S. Larsen has joined the firm as Counsel in the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources (ENR) Industry Group in New York. Larsen was most recently General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at LedgerX, an institutional trading and clearing platform that, once fully approved by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will be the first federally regulated bitcoin options exchange and clearing house to list and clear fully-collateralized, physically-settled bitcoin options for the institutional market.
“Kari has an incredible wealth of complex, cutting-edge commodity regulatory and transactional experience that will be invaluable to many of our global clients,” said Kyri Evagora, chair of Reed Smith’s ENR Industry Group. “Her tenure at the CTFC combined with her work helping clients develop and trade innovative commodity products, such as emissions and renewable energy credits, will be of immense interest to our energy clients and our financial industry clients will benefit from her significant understanding of digital currency and the blockchain.”
After serving as international operations counsel for the Enforcement Division of the CFTC, Larsen was a partner at McDermott Will & Emery where she cofounded the Global Renewable Energy, Emissions and New (GREEN) Products Group and was co-head of the Commodities Regulatory Group. Larsen left McDermott to become the General Counsel, Chief Regulatory Officer and Managing Director of The Green Exchange (GreenX), an environmental futures exchange, and following that, she joined LedgerX.
“We’re thrilled that Kari is joining in here in New York,” said Doug Wood, Managing Partner of Reed Smith’s New York office. “Thirty-five attorneys have joined us over the past year and we continue to add outstanding talent. With more than 160 attorneys in New York, working across a broad array of practices and industries, we’re now one of the firm’s largest U.S. offices.”
Larsen received her J.D., magna cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law, where she was Articles Editor for Administrative Law Review, and her B.A. from Binghamton University (SUNY).
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,800 lawyers in 26 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute-resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, entertainment and media, shipping and transport, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing, technology, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
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