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Frank Zarb

Frank Zarb is a partner in our Corporate Department and a member of the Capital Markets Group, where he concentrates his practice on equity finance and a wide range of regulatory matters under U.S. federal securities laws.

He counsels public and private companies, hedge funds and family offices, and market intermediaries and other financial institutions on a wide range of transactional and securities regulatory compliance matters including:

  • Equity investments and dispositions in public and private companies
  • Public company registration, disclosures and preparation of periodic reports
  • Tender offers, equity lines, proxy contests, SPACs, and other highly regulated transactions
  • Regulation M, Regulation SHO, Forms 13F and 13H, insider trading and other trading issues
  • Corporate governance and stock exchange listing standards
  • Federal and state proxy requirements as well as shareholder proposals and communications
  • Regulation of financial intermediaries, including trading of public and private equity, and complex and novel trading structures
  • Advocating with the SEC on behalf of a market intermediary related to back-office processing matters.

Frank’s practice is both domestic and international, beginning with his experience in senior positions with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a member of the staff of the SEC’s Office of International Corporate Finance, Frank advised U.S. companies seeking to do business in the EU, Asia and the Middle East, as well as companies from those regions doing business in the U.S., or otherwise seeking to comply with the U.S. securities laws.  In the Office of Chief Counsel, he focused on federal proxy rules, and supervised a team of staff members that provided guidance in the course of proxy season.

Prior to joining the Firm, Frank was deputy general counsel/chief securities counsel for Bristol Myers Squibb Co. in a new position required by the SEC. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers, Frank was a corporate partner with Morgan, Lewis & Brockius.

Social Responsibility

Frank is a Trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and he provides significant pro bono assistance to non-profit social service institutions in the Washington, D.C. area.

There has been movement forward on the Clarity Act, and the SEC and CFTC have anticipated its passage by pre-emptively completing a “memorandum of understanding” that would be required by the Act, and by beginning the “rulemaking” process with a joint interpretive release distinguishing between “investment contract assets” regulated by the SEC and “digital commodities”

Prediction markets now offer contracts tied directly to public company events—including stock price movements, earnings call language, regulatory outcomes, corporate announcements, and management decisions. These contracts are typically structured as event-based instruments rather than traditional securities. But for public companies, the practical question is straightforward: If employees are prohibited from trading securities on inside information, can they still bet on it?

The SEC staff has continued to update, refine, and supplement the staff’s longstanding Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (CD&Is) at a rapid pace to reflect the SEC’s current priorities. Earlier this year, the SEC posted new Securities Act CDIs regarding “integration” issues generally in connection with exempt offerings under Regulation D (the full list is available

In our February 20, 2026 client alert titled “New Reporting Obligations for Directors and Officers of Foreign Private Issuers,” we outlined the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act (HFIAA) and the new reporting requirements under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act for the officers and directors of foreign private issuers (“FPIs”) registered with the

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On December 18, 2025, President Trump signed into law the Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable Act (the “HFIAA”), which will terminate an exemption that long enabled directors and officers of foreign private issuers (“FPIs”) to avoid certain insider reporting obligations under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended

The new Administration has a clear mandate to provide a securities regulatory pathway for crypto, but it had been unclear whether the SEC would take the initiative in building a framework for crypto regulation, or whether legislation making its way through Congress would steal the momentum.  What is taking shape is a blend of the

Legislation that will subject non-US companies that publicly report in the U.S. to short-swing profits liability rules under Section 16 of the Exchange Act is embedded in the annual defense funding bill that has passed in the House and goes to the Senate as early as next week.  The requirement would apply to companies that

On December 3, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued an exemptive order to postpone the compliance deadline for Rule 13f-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by two years.  The new deadline for compliance is January 2, 2028. Rule 13f-2 was adopted in October 2023 and compliance had already been extended

Glass Lewis, one of the two large proxy advisory firms to institutional investors, announced earlier this month that it would no longer employ standardized “benchmark” voting policies, but instead customize policies on a client-by-client basis.  It explained the shift by citing “[r]apid advances in technology, especially AI, that are enabling highly customized approaches to voting,”