Lauren Cook Jackson

Lauren Cook Jackson is counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she advises financial services firms on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters. She practices across the firm's Financial Institutions, Global Financial Regulatory, Fintech and Digital Assets, Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance, Securities Enforcement, White Collar Defense and Investigations, and Investment Funds practice groups.

Ms. Jackson represents a broad range of industry participants, including global financial institutions, broker-dealers, investment advisers, fund companies, private equity and hedge fund managers, public companies, swap dealers, commodities traders, and fintech companies. Her advisory work spans enterprise-wide compliance across platforms and business lines, the implementation of new regulations, expansion into new business activities and associated regulatory requirements, including the use of emerging technology such as AI and related disclosure obligations, supervisory and internal controls, cross-border securities activities, and digital assets. She also counsels financial institutions on U.S. regulatory requirements related to broker-dealer registration, acquisition, and disposition.

Ms. Jackson has extensive experience managing investigations and enforcement proceedings involving systemic compliance failures, supervision deficiencies, sales practice violations, and alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. She has represented clients before the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, the U.S. Department of Justice, the NYSE, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the NFA, many different NASAA task force groups, state securities divisions, and state attorneys general. She advises on the collateral consequences of enforcement, civil, and criminal actions and engages with FINRA and SEC staff regarding waivers, no-action relief, and interpretive guidance for domestic and non-U.S. entities.

Ms. Jackson conducts internal investigations into potential violations of state and federal securities laws and counsels clients on both routine (e.g., Forms U4 and U5) and self-reporting (e.g., FINRA Rule 4530) filing obligations. She has designed and overseen large-scale remediation programs that balance internal priorities, mitigate follow-on litigation risk, and satisfy regulatory undertakings.

Ms. Jackson serves on the board of directors of the Children's Law Center of Central North Carolina and volunteers as a guardian ad litem through the CLC's Custody Advocacy Program, advocating for vulnerable children in domestic violence and high-conflict custody proceedings.

Ms. Jackson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000 and received her law degree magna cum laude from the University of Richmond School of Law in 2008. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and North Carolina.

Representative Matters*

• Represented multiple firms investigated and/or disciplined by SEC, FINRA, the CFTC and/or NFA for deficiencies relating to the preservation of required regulatory records by broker-dealers and swaps dealers in the prescribed form and manner (including that such records be kept in “WORM” format pursuant to SEC Rule 17a-4(f) and CFTC Rule 1.31). Assisted firms in conducting expansive remediation programs including top-down inventory of all required regulatory records, and the overhaul of related technology, governance and supervisory systems.
• Conducted internal investigation into potential violations of the Investment Company Act of 1940 in the pricing of certain mutual fund orders received by a brokerage unit of a Fortune 500 insurance and investment management company, coordinating the self-reporting of findings to FINRA and negotiation of favorable settlement terms for resolution of the matter and restitution to impacted investors.
• Managed a top-tier global financial institution's response to a complex regulatory inquiry into the possible manipulation of key interest rate indices, including LIBOR, TIBOR, and EURIBOR, as well as investigations by the DOJ, CFTC, SEC, UK FSA, and EC, and conducted an internal investigation of the firm's corporate treasury, chief investment office, and six business lines in response to related civil and criminal inquiries and class action litigation.
• Represented one of the nation’s largest independent broker-dealers in resolving multi-state investigations and subsequent global settlements regarding allegations relating to the sale of certain alternative investments, and compliance with so-called “Blue Sky” securities requirements.
• Represented one of the nation’s largest broker-dealers in resolving dozens of separate enforcement matters relating to alleged violations of SEC Rule 15c3-5 (the Market Access Rule) and related exchange supervisory rules relative to trading on the NYSE, CBOE, NASDAQ, and Bats.
• Represented four of five broker-dealers in a NASAA task force sweep investigation into the supervision and state-registration status of retail brokerage sales assistants and in negotiating and executing subsequent global multistate settlements.
• Advised client’s internal governance committee in reaching determinations regarding whether discipline imposed against associated persons during the annual incentive compensation review process and otherwise throughout the year required a reporting to FINRA pursuant to FINRA Rule 4530.
• Represented investment banking and retail brokerage businesses in response to DOJ, SEC, and state securities divisions' inquiry into the handling of information and treatment of different categories of customers relative to the initial public offering of a social media platform.
• Represented broker-dealer in negotiating an end to an ongoing administrative hearing, including a settlement that absolved individual executives of all sanctions sought, and provided favorable terms for the repurchase of outstanding auction rate securities.

*Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson Dunn.

Recent Speaking Engagements

• PLI's Broker/Dealer Regulation and Enforcement (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022)
• Securities Enforcement Forum West, The SEC’s Active Rulemaking Agenda and its Impact (2024)
• PLI’s Fiduciary Investment Advice and the Evolving Retail Investor Landscape (2022)
• PLI Fundamentals of Broker-Dealer Regulation (2021)
• NASAA Policy Symposium, Lessons Learned for Retail Investors from the GameStop Saga (2021)
• IAA, SEC Examination and Enforcement Update for Investment Advisers (2020)
• NASAA State Securities Regulatory Training, Effective Records Requests: An Industry Perspective (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019)

Publications

• Author of Chapter 33: Required Regulatory Records and Electronic Storage, in the PLI Broker-Dealer Regulation (Second Edition) Treatise

Capabilities

• Financial Institutions
• Financial Regulatory
• Fintech and Digital Assets
• Investment Funds
• Securities Enforcement
• Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance
• White Collar Defense and Investigations

Credentials

Education:

• University of Richmond - 2008 Juris Doctor
• University of North Carolina - 2004 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• District of Columbia Bar
• North Carolina Bar