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John D. Ruark

Member

John Ruark represents securities, futures and derivatives market participants, including brokerage firms, money managers, proprietary trading firms, and individual traders that are active on exchanges such as the CME Group exchanges, ICE Futures US, and Cboe Options exchanges, and in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. John handles regulatory, compliance, enforcement, transactional, and arbitration matters.

He serves as outside general counsel for a number of trading firms, in which capacity he has handled everything from software development agreements to employment matters to exchange fee issues. He also regularly represents clients with respect to regulatory investigations and enforcement actions at both the SRO and federal level. John believes in providing practical and workable advice to his clients. Having been a registered floor broker who traded options on the floor of the CBOT, he has an understanding of trading as well as the issues traders and trading firms face in today’s regulatory environment.

John began his legal career with the Chicago Board of Trade legal department, then served as in-house counsel for O’Connor & Company LLC, the predecessor firm to ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC, before going into private practice. He is a member, and a former chair, of the Chicago Bar Association Futures and Derivatives Law Committee. John often gives presentations on trading issues.

John taught in the Chicago-Kent College of Law Financial Services Law program on the regulation of securities and commodities professionals.

Education

LL.M., Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois
J.D., cum laude, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois
B.A., Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Recognitions

Ranked as a Tier 3 “USA Chicago Elite – Banking and Finance”  by Legal 500 (2025)

Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rated attorney

Memberships

Chicago Bar Association Member

National Futures Association Hearing Committee Member

Conference Advisory Board Member, Chicago-Kent College of Law Conference on Futures and Derivatives

State Bar Licenses

Illinois

Court Admissions

U.S. District Ct., N.D. of Illinois

Publications & Speaking Engagements

  • High Frequency and Algorithmic Trading Issues, June 2014 CBA Futures & Derivatives Law Committee CLE Seminar
  • The Flash Crash and Market Structure Reform, May 2015 CBA Securities Committee Seminar on Market Structure Reform
  • Regulation AT – What You Need to Know About the CFTC’s Proposed Rules for Algorithmic Trading, December 2015 CBA Futures & Derivatives Law Committee
  • Regulation AT: Where We Are Now, October 2016 Chicago-Kent College of Law Annual Conference on Futures and Derivatives
  • CFTC and Exchange Enforcement Update, June 2017 CBA Futures & Derivatives Law Committee 2017 CLE seminar
  • Cryptocurrencies: What Are The SEC and CFTC Doing In This Space? December 2017 Joint meeting of CBA Futures & Derivatives Law and Securities Law Committees)

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