Hilary Sunghee Seo

Partner Hilary Sunghee Seo provides strategic counsel to broker-dealers, investment banks, trading platforms (traditional and cryptocurrency), and FinTech firms, as well as to private funds, wealth management firms, and private banks, on a wide range of domestic and cross-border regulatory matters.

This includes advising on SEC broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation and on FINRA rules relating to registration and licensing, supervision and governance, business conduct, distribution and marketing, trading, custody, and related compliance obligations. Hilary has in-depth knowledge and broad experience advising as to complex and novel cross-product and cross-jurisdictional matters, often advising across the fragmented patchwork of regulations covering the financial markets in close collaboration with her colleagues in the A&O Shearman network. She also regularly advises on regulatory matters in connection with significant M&A and capital markets transactions. She has advocated and obtained regulatory guidance and relief from the SEC, FINRA, CFTC and NFA for clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Hilary practiced as a transactional and financial regulatory attorney at leading U.S. law firms. In between her law firm tenures, she spent several years co-directing a legal services project that provides free legal services to immigrant survivors of domestic violence, trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence.

She is a native of Korea and speaks Korean fluently.