Practice Areas
Rita M. Molesworth is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services and Asset Management Departments. Rita co-chairs the Firm’s Financial Institutions/Regulatory Practice Group and is a member of the Capital Markets Practice Group. A seasoned practitioner and recognized leader possessing unparalleled experience with the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, Rita is active in advising clients on the CEA and U.S. securities laws applicable to financial institutions and other companies. She also advises clients on CFTC and NFA requirements with respect to privacy, cybersecurity and digital assets.
Rita counsels a broad range of market participants on futures, swaps and general corporate and securities law matters. Such participants include futures commission merchants, commodity pool operators, commodity trading advisors, swap dealers, investment advisers, hedge fund managers, and other businesses. Rita is active in assisting clients in U.S. and non-U.S. offerings of commodity pools and hedge funds employing simple to complex structures.
In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission appointed Rita as an Independent Compliance Monitor in connection with settlements between those agencies and the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Rita began her career as an examiner with the National Futures Association (NFA). She worked with energy companies (open outcry years) on the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Rita serves on, and has chaired, multiple committees in the financial services arena. She is a past Chair of the American Bar Association's Derivatives and Futures Law Committee and the New York City Bar's Futures and Derivatives Regulation Committee.
Personal
Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., 1995, University of Massachusetts, B.B.A., 1984. See: https://www.willkie.com/professionals/m/molesworth%20rita%20m
