James M. McDonald is a litigation partner and Co-Head of both the Firm’s Securities & Commodities Investigations Practice and its Commodities, Futures and Derivatives Group. Mr. McDonald joined Sullivan and Cromwell as a partner in 2021 after serving as Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Deputy Associate Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel under George W. Bush, and as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Mr. McDonald is one of the few lawyers ranked by Chambers and Partners in five different practice areas. His broad practice includes representation of clients across nearly every sector of the global and domestic economies as they face their most difficult, “bet-the-company” issues or pursue their most significant opportunities. He regularly appears before federal, state, and international agencies, including the DOJ, CFTC, SEC, FTC, CFPB, as well as State Attorneys General and securities regulators. In particular, Mr. McDonald has had significant recent success in navigating corporate investigations, litigations, and resolutions involving multiple actions involving the federal government, State Attorneys General, and private claims.
Mr. McDonald’s practice covers a wide range of areas, from advising clients on regulatory enforcement and white-collar, to antitrust and healthcare fraud, to civil litigation and commercial disputes. Mr. McDonald also regularly advises clients addressing novel issues or opportunities in new and emerging areas, including all aspects of the prediction market, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency ecosystems.
Mr. McDonald’s clients include some of the world’s most significant public companies, technology firms, energy businesses, financial institutions, defense companies, trading firms, consumer and retail businesses, healthcare companies, and start-ups, as well as numerous prominent individuals including board members, senior executives and founders of companies across industries, cabinet secretaries, senators and other prominent individuals.
These clients have praised Mr. McDonald for his intelligence, judgment, and strategic approach to counsel clients to obtain the best possible result. They describe him as “super smart, insightful, thoughtful and strategic” and an “excellent advocate and enforcement litigator.” He “knows what regulators think and what they want” and “appreciates the internal pressures [his clients] face.” He has been praised for his “level headedness and experience” and is excellent in “navigating federal litigation and knowing who the people are and the right strategy.” Another client praised him as “a really great defense lawyer. He is thoughtful, proactive and knowledgeable. He is very forward thinking and has a ton of experience.” He “is great at overarching strategy,” and “focuses on issues of primary importance and helps clients do the same.”
From 2017 to 2020, Mr. McDonald served as Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he had overall responsibility for all aspects of the CFTC’s enforcement program, including its investigations and litigations, market surveillance, and whistleblower office. During his time at the CFTC, Mr. McDonald was responsible for creating the first task forces within the Division of Enforcement focused on manipulation and spoofing; insider trading; foreign corruption; anti-money laundering and the Bank Secrecy Act; and digital assets. He also coordinated the CFTC’s enforcement activities with the Department of Justice, the SEC, and numerous international regulators.
Prior to joining the CFTC in 2017, Mr. McDonald served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he investigated and prosecuted white-collar criminal offenses, as well as cases involving international narcotics trafficking and violent crime, and tried numerous jury cases.
Mr. McDonald currently serves as an Adviser to the American Law Institute’s Principles of Compliance, Risk Management, and Enforcement. Mr. McDonald previously served as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School, where he co-taught a course on the intersection of business, regulation, and enforcement, and as a Senior Fellow at NYU Law’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement. Originally from Oklahoma, Mr. McDonald previously taught Constitutional Law, Federal Courts, Foreign Relations Law, and Supreme Court Decision-making as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Mr. McDonald is a frequent featured speaker at bar association and professional organization conferences on issues relating to white-collar enforcement and internal investigations, including the American Bar Association, SIFMA, the Futures Industry Association, the New York City Bar, and PLI.
Mr. McDonald’s comments have been reported by numerous major news publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and Bloomberg.
