Rebecca Leon

Rebecca Leon is a corporate attorney in Holland & Knight's West Palm Beach and Miami offices and member of the Corporate, M&A and Securities Practice Group. She is co-head of the firm's Broker-Dealer Regulation and Compliance Team. Ms. Leon is an experienced broker-dealer and investment adviser regulatory attorney who focuses on counseling clients on global regulatory and compliance matters.

Ms. Leon has extensive experience guiding financial services clients on structuring and developing their international operations, including their cross-border and in-country business.

In addition, Ms. Leon counsels domestic and foreign clients on U.S. federal and state securities laws and the rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). She frequently advises clients on clearing and custody arrangements, net capital and customer protection rules, broker-dealer registration and material changes in business, outsourcing, referral arrangements, expense and personnel sharing arrangements, and the intersection of U.S. and foreign regulations impacting financial services providers. She assists clients with a panoply of intercompany, customer and industry agreements. Ms. Leon frequently advises clients entering the U.S. market and advises on the intricacies of establishing foreign offices and global operations.

Ms. Leon's holistic approach helps financial services firms look beyond licensing to understand the wide array of global legal and regulatory risks inherent to their business models, including in areas such as data protection, tax, exchange controls, provision of credit, deposit taking, consumer protection, fly-in meetings and reporting requirements. She assists clients in building their global policies and procedures, and in preparing documentation and training programs with a view to mitigating U.S. and foreign legal and compliance risks.

Prior to rejoining Holland & Knight, Ms. Leon was a partner in the financial regulation and enforcement practice at an international law firm in its Miami office. Ms. Leon previously was a partner with Holland & Knight from 2016 to 2020. In addition, she has worked at law firms in New York and Miami, where she also assisted clients with private placements, securities arbitrations, and investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA. Notably, she also has prior experience as a staff attorney in the Enforcement Division of the SEC's New York Regional Office.

While in law school, she maintained internships at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).