The cryptocurrency industry is ramping up efforts to recruit more legal talent as it faces increased regulatory pressure while looking to be accepted by and become part of mainstream finance.
Crypto exchanges and companies are poaching attorneys left and right, from both law firms and other crypto companies, bringing them in-house to help navigate an evolving regulatory landscape while helping to curb outside legal expenses, industry participants said. Law firms, which are sometimes losing their partners to in-house positions, are also building up their crypto practices to maintain that valuable expertise.
The increased demand for lawyers also marks a turning point for crypto, whose early supporters often expressed skepticism of regulation. The industry has been expanding rapidly with hopes of attracting more mainstream investment opportunities and many are embracing the stance that they want regulatory clarity.
“In [the crypto] space, the consensus is you need to have someone in-house early,” said John Wolf Konstant, a senior consultant at technology-focused legal recruiting firm Whistler Partners. “Especially since investors are going to require that, you need to have someone there to help chaperone the process and to make sure everything is buttoned up from the start.”
Competition is also driving up salaries in the crypto space at a faster rate than in the larger in-house legal market, particularly for senior-level positions, Mr. Konstant said. Total annual packages, including tokens and equity, can run into seven figures at the very top of the market, he added.
Marco Santori, chief legal officer of Kraken, tweeted in February that the San Francisco-based crypto exchange was looking to hire 30 lawyers in the next three months. He added that he would like to hire 60, “but honestly I don’t know how to get it done.”
“Kraken legal is fully on track with its hiring goals since my comments in February,” Mr. Santori said last week in an email. “We are attracting the best lawyers from both traditional finance and white-shoe firms. The brain drain is real and we couldn’t be happier with it.”
Jorge Pesok, chief legal officer of the HBAR Foundation.
Photo: Jorge Pesok
Lawyer Jorge Pesok recently joined crypto-based nonprofit HBAR Foundation, which gives out grants to projects, as its chief legal officer after about 10 months as general counsel and chief compliance officer at crypto exchange Tacen Inc. Before Tacen, he was at law firm Crowell & Moring LLP.
“The market is hot,” Mr. Pesok said, adding that he received four job offers before he chose HBAR, primarily because of its commitment to sustainability, and he wasn’t even looking for a new position. “Everybody is looking for talent,” he said, adding that for HBAR, even the simple grants it makes require help, given the nuances of cryptocurrency and the regulatory scrutiny around the industry.
Recruiter Whistler Partners said about 10% to 15% of all recent placements have been in the crypto or financial technology sectors, with firms hiring for both in-house counsel and law firm positions, according to Mr. Konstant, who himself was a lawyer before moving to the recruiting field. He said the firm was working on six to 10 in-house legal jobs in the blockchain or fintech space over the past year at any given time.
Mr. Konstant said there is a great deal of competition for all legal talent across sectors, where candidates for in-house roles may receive multiple offers. But “for the crypto space, it’s more pronounced,” he said, adding that there is a huge demand for those with specialized knowledge in crypto and previous experience working at law firms that specialized in crypto or having built in-house crypto-focused teams.
As with most other jobs, firms operating in the crypto sector would prefer to hire someone with some relevant direct experience, but most expect to train new legal staff on the job as they learn about the specific projects each firm does.
Gregory Lisa, who most recently was a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., joined decentralized financed-focused company Element Finance as its first chief legal officer in December. Mr. Lisa, who previously worked as a regulator at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said his new position at the 25-person startup, which builds open-source protocol for fixed- and variable-yield tokens, offers him the chance to focus on the growth of one company, versus a portfolio of clients as an external counsel. His responsibilities now include engaging with regulators and law enforcement and managing internal legal issues.
Cathy Yoon, chief legal officer of crypto technology company MPCH.
Photo: Lucas Hoeffel
“You really get a chance to write the script and to engage with companies at an early stage,” Mr. Lisa said, adding that he has also stayed on as a special adviser for Hogan Lovells to help with the transition.
Cathy Yoon joined crypto technology company MPCH at the end of March as its chief legal officer after less than a year as general counsel of crypto exchange INX Ltd. She said she had no intention of moving jobs, but was interested in helping build blockchain infrastructure that could more easily support and onboard additional blockchain assets, which isn’t possible currently. So far, her day-to-day work includes managing internal corporate matters, such as the structuring of legal entities and intellectual property issues, and facilitating meetings with potential investors and customers.
The increasingly competitive job market also demands more lawyers who are “very commercial,” Ms. Yoon said, since crypto companies want to bring in attorneys early on to brainstorm with tech teams on what problems their products are meant to solve. “There has been a shift from lawyers being seen as ‘keeping us out of trouble,’ to becoming important members of the management team,” she said.
Daniel Forester, a partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and a leader of its fintech practice.
Photo: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Law firms, some already struggling with a shortage of talent, are beefing up their crypto services as well, sometimes looking to acquire a whole team from other firms.
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is looking to build “a complete offering” of services for blockchain firms, from helping with entity formation to advising on regulatory issues, according to Daniel Forester, a partner at the firm and leader of its fintech practice. The law firm, with roots in the traditional technology sector, currently has about 20 partners leading its crypto-related work and is looking to lure current regulators and candidates or teams from other law firms or in-house positions, he said.
Facing increasing competition for legal talent, Mr. Forester said Orrick continues to focus on retaining employees, including those at the associate level. “There are more positions than people,” he said of the legal industry as a whole. “The key to long-term success is retention.
Write to Mengqi Sun at mengqi.sun@wsj.com
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