Charles R. Mills is a partner in Steptoe's Washington office, where he practices in the Energy and Financial Services Groups.

He represents a broad array of registered market intermediaries and advisers, financial and non-financial end users such as energy and other operating companies, commodity traders, and investment funds, and their directors, officers, and traders in regulatory matters, governmental investigations, litigation, and arbitrations. His practice focuses on regulatory counseling and representation in regulatory and enforcement matters before:

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
The National Futures Association (NFA)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
The principal futures, swaps, and securities exchanges and trading facilities.

Mr. Mills has extensive experience in defending investigations of alleged derivatives, commodities and securities market abuses and violations of the laws and rules administrated and enforced by those agencies and self-regulatory organizations. Typical regulatory matters concern advocacy with respect to proposed agency rules, compliance training for derivatives, commodities and securities, registration, licensing, trade reporting, risk disclosure and other requirements, and preparing internal compliance policies, procedures, and controls. Litigation has included securities and commodities class actions.

Mr. Mills is the past Chair of the ABA’s Derivatives and Futures Law Committee. He is on the Board of Editors of Thompson/West’s Futures & Derivatives Law Report. He has served multiple terms on the executive committee of the Law and Compliance Division of the Futures Industry Association. He was an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center for 21 years, where he taught graduate level courses in securities and derivatives law.