Charley is an incredibly strong and excellent advocate for his clients.

Chambers USA, 2023

Charles (Charley) Mills focuses his practice in the areas of derivatives, commodities, crypto and securities trading law. Exchanges, market intermediaries, advisors, traders, end users and product developers turn to Charley for his deep knowledge of the regulatory agencies, the law, trading and the markets. He represents these clients in law enforcement investigations and actions, internal investigations, federal court litigation and regulatory compliance counseling involving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice, the regulated futures exchanges, the National Futures Association and FINRA. He has tried over 60 court cases, administrative proceedings and arbitrations to successful outcomes and prevailed for clients in many appeals.

Charley is a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee and has long served on the New York City Bar’s Committee on Futures and Derivatives Regulation. He also has served multiple terms on the Executive Committee of the Futures Industry Association’s Law and Compliance Division. He is a co-author of the treatises Derivatives Regulation (Wolter Kluwer), Broker-Dealer Regulation (PLI), and The Securities Enforcement Manual (ABA, 2007). He is on the board of editors of the Futures & Derivatives Law Report (Thomson Reuters) and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center for 21 years, teaching courses in securities law and derivatives regulation.

As part of his community service, Charley serves as the president of the Benedictine Foundation, which supports the Benedictine School for Exceptional Children, Inc., which provides educational, vocational and residential services for children and adults with developmental disabilities.