logo
Winston & Strawn Launches Financial Innovation & Regulation Practice

Winston & Strawn Launches Financial Innovation & Regulation Practice

Business Wire21-05-2025
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Winston & Strawn LLP is pleased to announce the launch of its Financial Innovation & Regulation Practice (FIR), a strategic response to the rapidly evolving financial services landscape and the increasingly complex legal and regulatory issues that confront companies at the forefront of innovation.
With the increasing role of emergent technologies in financial services, the FIR collaborates closely with Winston's top-tier talent from its nationally-ranked, cross-disciplinary Digital Assets Group and its FinTech, Banking & Payments Group.
'As the financial sector undergoes a historic transformation, clients need a legal partner who not only understands the shifting terrain but also helps shape it,' said Carl Fornaris, chair of the Financial Innovation & Regulation practice. 'The launch of this practice underscores our commitment to staying ahead of the curve and providing end-to-end solutions to both incumbents and innovators in the United States and abroad.'
The FIR practice leverages its lawyers' technical knowledge and legal proficiency to advise on:
Issuance and trading of digital assets and stablecoins
Licensing and registration of a variety of financial services and products
Federal and state financial agency regulatory enforcement
Digital asset fund formation
Bank-FinTech partnerships
Tokenization, DAO structuring, and cross-border crypto activity
AML and prudential regulatory compliance
Consumer regulatory compliance
Sound risk management principles, including third-party relationships
'We understand that the future of financial services is being shaped right now,' said Juan Azel, chair of the FinTech, Banking and Payments Group. 'Our team is trusted by both disruptors and traditional players because we speak the language of innovation—without losing sight of regulatory risk.'
'The FIR is built for what's next and delivers the most sophisticated regulatory counsel to clients facing novel and high-stakes issues,' said Daniel Stabile and Kim Prior, co-chairs of the Digital Assets Group. 'Our digital asset clients will benefit greatly from the FIR's market leading and cutting-edge regulatory expertise.'
Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with 14 offices in North America, South America, and Europe. More information about the firm is available at www.winston.com.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Europe's New AI Plan Is Ambitious—Now Comes The Hard Part
Europe's New AI Plan Is Ambitious—Now Comes The Hard Part

Forbes

time29 minutes ago

  • Forbes

Europe's New AI Plan Is Ambitious—Now Comes The Hard Part

Frederik R. Pedersen, CEO and Co-Founder of EasyTranslate, driving innovation at the intersection of AI and human expertise. It's no secret that the EU needs to solve its innovation problem. In 2024, only 13% of European companies used AI. Europe's slow adoption of technology has had serious consequences. According to a report by DigitalEurope, it's a key contributor to the 30% gross domestic product gap between the EU and the U.S. DigitalEurope also estimated Europe's regulatory burdens cost businesses €200 billion annually. Regulations and reporting are just some of the hindrances holding Europe back. Infrastructure, labor pool, culture and access are also challenges. In April, the European bloc announced the AI continent plan, following a pledge in February to mobilize €200 billion in AI investments. The public-private allocation includes €150 billion from investors for AI-related opportunities and a new €20 billion fund that the EU established to build five AI gigafactories. The plan has five elements: additional computing infrastructure, greater access to data, increased adoption of AI, a wider and more skilled talent pool trained on AI and a single market unhampered by excessive regulatory policies. As a founder of a European tech company, I welcome this shift. However, setting bold goals is only the beginning. The success of this plan will depend on execution and a willingness to embrace a different mindset, that of an entrepreneur rather than a bureaucrat. Clarity Over Complexity For too long, uncertainty has held back AI innovation in Europe. Regulation is important, but when it becomes overly complex or fragmented across member states, it slows everyone down. If the EU wants to compete globally, it needs to make sure companies can act on these rules while remaining agile. One big step in the right direction is to consult with the tech industry to identify and minimize friction points. Just like any startup, gathering feedback from users is critical to building a better product or service. Another is the idea of a 28th legal regime, a framework that would allow AI companies to operate across Europe under one set of rules. This could be a game-changer, especially for smaller companies without the resources to navigate 27 different systems. Building What's Missing According to a POLITICO report, the commission has also proposed building five AI "gigafactories," and OpenAI has recommended that Europe increase its computing power by 300% by 2030. If done right, it could make a real impact. However, it's not just about building infrastructure; it's about ensuring that access to that infrastructure is affordable and widely available. It will be important to avoid creating another layer of inequality where only the largest players benefit from public investment. The real opportunity lies in democratizing access to the computing power and data that drive AI progress. Addressing The Skills Gap Another part of the plan focuses on AI skills. In April 2025, OpenAI suggested that 100 million Europeans would need to be trained in AI by 2030. Whether or not that number is realistic, it reflects the scale of the challenge. Europe needs a serious, coordinated effort to upskill its workforce. Right now, the EU lags behind when it comes to AI-readiness. In the U.S., upskilling is already becoming a priority across industries. In Europe, we're just getting started. Public funding, corporate training programs and accessible learning pathways all need to play a part if we want to see meaningful progress. What Happens Next Matters Most Europe is right to aim high. The global AI race is well underway, and the window to catch up is still open—but not for long. The AI continent plan shows that Europe is willing to step into a more ambitious role. The next test is whether it can turn this ambition into something tangible. That will require coordination, trust and urgency from everyone involved. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

Five Lessons From Building A Deep Tech Company
Five Lessons From Building A Deep Tech Company

Forbes

time2 hours ago

  • Forbes

Five Lessons From Building A Deep Tech Company

Dr. Joseph Nathan is the Co-founder, President and Chief Medical Officer of ForSight Robotics, reshaping eyecare through surgical robotics. Advanced technologies built with a deep tech approach are redefining whole industries, from robotic surgery applications to autonomous vehicles to humanoid robot assistants. Deep tech innovation focuses on developing disruptive technology that answers global challenges, while fusing multidisciplinary sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, among others. Physical AI, or the fusion of AI with physical systems, is at the heart of deep tech innovation. As the AI race intensifies and the industry expands—in 2025, more than $320 billion has already been allocated for AI developments by megacap tech companies—the opportunities for having a transformational impact on the physical world grow with it. Leading a company developing truly ground-breaking technology requires a level of resilience and a burning desire to create real impact, no matter what challenges arise along the way. The following five lessons stem from our experience building ForSight Robotics. 1. Constant Adaptation In deep tech, the product envisioned at the outset is rarely the one that reaches the market. As technologies advance, market needs shift and real-world feedback challenges early assumptions, the initial product often evolves beyond the vision and concept of the early days. Founders need to embrace that adaptation is not a setback—it is the operating system that drives the product towards its best version. The ability to constantly adapt, without losing sight of the core problem being solved, is what separates success from failure. New data points will introduce breakthroughs that may guide product development in new directions; and while this does not mean chasing every track and entirely discarding previous assumptions and designs, it does mean recognizing opportunities and, when needed, shifting to new ideas to maintain long-term viability. At ForSight, we transformed our ORYOM Robotic Surgery Platform through three generations until reaching our clinical product—providing superior precision and optimizing ergonomics, features shaped by user feedback and market need. 2. Building The Right Team Deep tech is fundamentally multidisciplinary and requires thorough collaboration across specialties. Assembling the right team begins with knit-picking top-tier talent in each discipline the product requires—but it can only be successful if those experts can build and maintain a true ecosystem. As founders, our role is to enable this ecosystem to thrive by creating the right culture and conditions for the required cross-specialty collaboration. Building a deep tech company requires a convergence of expertise and should not be approached alone. Especially for first-time founders, surrounding yourself with pioneers who have done it before—successfully, and in your particular industry—is essential. From the start of our journey, we integrated both our strategic and clinical advisors as core members of the ForSight journey. Their insights have shaped our product decisions and grounded our vision in real-world clinical needs. By tapping into the knowledge and experience of the founders who have reshaped our market, we have been able to navigate the last five years with deep insight and focus on what truly matters. 3. Validating Relentlessly Unlocking critical insights that may shape, and reshape, deep tech development roadmaps comes from relentless validation—a continuous process that ensures a breakthrough idea functions under real-world constraints, and truly answers a market need. From simulations to prototypes to transitioning to real-world models, validation of deep tech products is essential at every stage of product development. Demonstrating early prototypes, even before they are fully refined, for key users creates critical feedback loops that save time and resources down the road. Intuitive Surgical, which introduced robotics to general surgery with its da Vinci surgical system and dominates over two-thirds of the surgical robotics market today, began testing its system in 1997 and received FDA regulatory approval in 2000. Its next-generation product, expanding laparoscopic surgery to over a dozen subspecialties, would only reach the market in 2014, following nearly 15 years of testing and validation. While technological advances have significantly accelerated development and validation cycles, and medtech products reach the market much faster today than a decade ago, rigorous validation remains essential. 4. Establishing A Long-Term Foundation Scaling sustainably requires early investment in the foundational elements of a deep tech company. Just like picking the right team, designing internal processes, systems and operations early on can set the stage for the company's and product's success as it evolves. For medical technology companies, for example, building quality systems, clinical data pipelines, regulatory mapping, robust IP strategies and other functions that will only scale years later is crucial from the very first days of the company's inception. It is not only about thinking strategically and knowing that early decisions will have a long-term impact, as the product evolves and the organization grows and transitions through stages. It is about implementing critical functions and processes to create a durable and trusted system from the outset, which will result in compounding advantages. 5. Enjoying The Journey While focusing on long-term milestones is necessary to maintain momentum and always keep the goal in sight, it is the small moments along the journey that define the DNA of the company you are building. Beyond developing a novel product, you are building a community—one based on a sense of meaning and value. Amid operational pressure and intense timelines, take the time to celebrate individuals and small wins along the way. Recognizing the people who pour their hearts into bringing your vision to life allows your high-functioning teams to sustain the organization for years. Shaping the right company culture is at the heart of building a successful deep tech venture. Operating in an ecosystem with little precedent, which defines deep tech companies, requires founders to be comfortable with ambiguity, adaptable to challenges and above all, resilient. For those willing to embrace the complexity while enjoying the journey along the way, lies a truly life-changing opportunity that can impact our world for generations to come. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

AI And Humanity: Designing A Future Of Mutual Empowerment
AI And Humanity: Designing A Future Of Mutual Empowerment

Forbes

time2 hours ago

  • Forbes

AI And Humanity: Designing A Future Of Mutual Empowerment

Trushant Mehta is a philomath and a sedulous and inquisitive tech evangelist. He cofounded and serves as CTO of OpenEyes Technologies Inc. In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) isn't the antagonist of a dystopian tale. It's a dynamic partner in shaping a future where human intelligence and machine intelligence work in concert to amplify creativity, accelerate innovation and solve the world's most complex challenges. For years, AI has been portrayed as a force that might replace us: our jobs, our thinking, even our autonomy. But those fears, often fueled by science fiction and headlines, miss a fundamental truth: AI isn't here to substitute human ingenuity. It's here to elevate it. Every major tech leap, from the printing press to the internet, sparked fears of obsolescence. Yet, humans adapted, industries evolved and new opportunities emerged. AI is on the same path. The sooner we stop seeing it as humans versus AI, the sooner we can build a future shaped by humans with AI. From Fear To Collaboration: A Paradigm Shift AI's early headlines revolved around disruption: mass layoffs, job displacement and dystopian automation. But disruption, history shows, is often a prelude to reinvention. During the Industrial Revolution, the electrification era and the rise of the internet, every technological leap introduced fear and, eventually, growth. The same arc is unfolding with AI. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, although 92 million jobs could be displaced by 2030 due to drivers that include technological change like automation, 170 million new roles are projected to emerge, particularly in data science, sustainability, healthcare and AI development. The result? A net gain of 78 million jobs. The most successful organizations won't just adopt AI quickly—they'll integrate it wisely, blending machine power with human empathy, creativity and ethics. Enhancing Human Productivity And Innovation AI is transitioning from a back-end tool to a front-line collaborator, transforming sectors beyond tech. 1. Catalyzing AI Productivity: McKinsey forecasts as much as $4.4 trillion in productivity potential from corporate use cases of generative AI, indicating a sweeping, cross-functional impact while emphasizing that organizations must move beyond the pilot stage to fully harness these gains by embedding AI into workflows. 2. Revolutionizing Drug Discovery And Healthcare: AI can speed up drug discovery and streamline clinical trials. The FDA has reported a sharp rise in AI-enhanced drug applications. Tech leaders like Amazon and Nvidia are investing heavily in AI (paywall) for healthcare, signifying a larger commitment to improving patient care and operational efficiency. 3. Advancing Space Exploration: NASA's ExoMiner has already used AI to discover hundreds of new exoplanets by analyzing complex datasets from telescopes—a task that would take humans years. 4. Optimizing Renewable Energy: In the energy sector, AI is playing a pivotal role in optimizing renewable energy production. Google's collaboration with U.S. power grid operators has led to the implementation of AI tools that significantly reduce grid connection times for renewable projects. Preparing For An AI-Integrated Future As AI becomes foundational, continuous training is no longer a perk—it's a prerequisite. According to the World Economic Forum, 50% of the workforce has already undergone upskilling or reskilling, up from 41% in 2023. Forward-looking companies are already investing in talent transformation: • Vodafone plans to fill 40% of its future software roles internally through AI training programs. • Infosys is reskilling over 2,000 cybersecurity professionals to address growing digital threats. At OpenEyes, we don't solely provide tools; we also foster adaptive talent and are committed to self-reskilling as a constant endeavor. Traditional one-size-fits-all workshops lacked impact and engagement, so we pivoted to a hands-on approach. We ran prompt engineering, data tagging and UX testing frameworks workshops that involved co-creating features. Moreover, we taught ethical AI and survey logic design to nontechnical staff, particularly those working on our learning management system and credential management products. With these programs, we're focused on enabling deeper fluency in AI, customer insight synthesis, adaptive agile iterative thinking and holistic and inclusivity frameworks. Building A Future Of Mutual Empowerment The promise of AI will only be fulfilled if its deployment is ethical, equitable and inclusive. The EU's AI Act, set to take full effect by August 2026, is a landmark framework that classifies AI systems by risk and regulates high-risk use cases in employment, law enforcement and health. Meanwhile, U.S. states like California and Massachusetts are leveraging existing laws such as consumer protection and anti-discrimination statutes to rein in unethical AI use. OpenEyes is dedicated to ethical AI practices and is governed by frameworks that emphasize transparency and accountability. Governance frameworks allocate responsibility to specific individuals or teams, helping streamline operations within predefined boundaries. We implement bias identification and mitigation frameworks for ethical AI use, including data imbalance audits, AI fairness evaluation with IBM's AI Fairness 360 and Google's What-If Tool, counterfactual evaluation for outcome assessment and outcome bias assessment. Models exhibiting bias are corrected with countermeasures including re-weighting, re-sampling and adversarial debiasing. We ensure accountability by soliciting feedback from a range of impacted groups and providing documented procedures. Conclusion: Embracing AI As Humanity's Greatest Ally AI isn't a threat; it's an opportunity—a chance to elevate the human experience, solve problems at scale and unlock new realms of innovation. Like every major technology before it, AI will reflect our intentions. Used wisely, it can help us build a more inclusive, creative and resilient world. This isn't a story of man versus machine. It's a story of humanity with AI working together to create a future where intelligence, both human and artificial, is used not just to optimize but to empower. The challenge before us isn't to contain AI but to lead it with wisdom, ethics and vision. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store