A. Valerie Mirko is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Financial Regulation and Enforcement Practice Group in North America. Ms. Mirko has substantial experience in federal and state securities laws and regulations affecting the financial services industry, with a focus on the investment adviser and brokerage industries. She has a background in both regulatory advice and enforcement counseling. Immediately prior to joining the Firm, she was General Counsel of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).
As General Counsel, she advised NASAA's Board of Directors on developments in the federal securities laws and their impact on state securities regulations. Ms. Mirko provided advice on, among other areas, the SEC Regulation Best Interest rule set, fiduciary duty/standards of care, preemption, retail enforcement issues, investment adviser oversight, and data privacy. She also supervised all of NASAA's securities-related legal work and was a resource on multistate enforcement investigations and settlements. Ms. Mirko also provided governance support on key NASAA Regtech projects and regulatory coordination initiatives between state and federal regulators. She was a frequent speaker at regulator-only roundtables and training events.
Earlier in her career, she advised broker-dealers and investment advisers on regulatory matters and enforcement investigations as an associate at a Washington law firm and held legal and compliance roles at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and Merrill Lynch (now BofA Securities). She is currently a member of the adjunct faculty at the George Washington University Law School and a subcommittee chair within the DC Bar Corporation, Finance, and Securities Law Community.
Ms. Mirko's practice includes a wide range of regulatory, compliance, examinations and enforcement matters. She is a leading practitioner in the SEC Regulation Best Interest rule set as well as standards of care regulations at the state level and can assist both broker-dealer and investment adviser clients with regard to regulatory risk, compliance programs, and implementation.
She regularly advises broker-dealers and investment advisers regarding federal and state securities laws and regulations, including FINRA rules, and counsels clients during all aspects of broker-dealer and investment adviser regulatory examinations and enforcement investigations.