PHILADELPHIA – Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC announced today the addition of shareholder William W. Uchimoto and associate James M. Connolly to its Corporate Finance Practice in Philadelphia. Both join the firm from Saul Ewing, where Uchimoto co-chaired the firm's Securities Litigation Practice Group. Uchimoto and Connolly represent broker-dealers, investment advisors, securities exchanges, and public and private companies. Their practice combines significant securities regulatory, compliance and enforcement elements. Uchimoto also represents Chinese companies in becoming U.S. public companies and with their listing on U.S. securities exchanges such as the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Uchimoto started his career with the SEC's Division of Market Regulation in 1981, and has since served as general counsel for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and later as executive vice president and general counsel of Vie Financial Group, a public company that offered financial services, including electronic trading products to institutions.
From 1986-1997, Uchimoto served as general counsel to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and advised the Exchange and its members of all rules and regulations regarding the Exchange's stock, stock option, index option and foreign currency option market segments. From 1981 - 1986, as an SEC attorney, he was involved in policy work projects such as creating NASDAQ's last-sales reporting system and enabling exchanges to trade NASDAQ stocks.
Uchimoto received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Davis.
Connolly has an extensive background handling regulatory and compliance matters involving the SEC, FINRA, securities exchanges and state securities regulatory authorities. Prior to joining Saul Ewing, Connolly was assistant general counsel and compliance director of Vie Financial Group. He also served in officer-level positions with HSBC Securities, Nomura Securities International, Morgan Stanley & Co., J.P. Morgan & Company and Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of New York, both domestically and in London.
Connolly has extensive experience in the representation of clients in initial set-up and registration as broker-dealers and investment advisers with the SEC and state securities regulatory authorities, and membership with FINRA and national securities exchanges. He also advises clients in all aspects of securities regulatory and compliance matters. Previously, Connolly served as assistant general counsel, corporate secretary and compliance director for Vie Financial Group, Inc., a public company. He also handled regulatory compliance issues for three of its broker-dealer subsidiaries.
Prior to his legal career, Connolly spent more than twenty years in the financial markets as a fixed-income specialist, with a particular focus on U.S. Treasury securities. His experience in this area included positions in institutional sales, trading and portfolio management. In 1982, he established Morgan Guaranty's first offshore U.S. Treasury sales and trading unit in London.
Connolly received his J.D. from the University of New York at Buffalo, his M.B.A. from Seton Hall University and his B.S. from Niagara University.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC has more than 550 attorneys and government relations professionals practicing throughout the United States, with multiple offices in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as offices in Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.