Chelsea Pizzola
Partner, Asset Management
Chelsea Pizzola is a partner in Willkie’s Asset Management Department and a member of the Digital Works practice. She is based in the Firm’s Washington, DC office.
Chelsea’s practice focuses on derivatives, commodities, securities, and banking regulatory and enforcement matters, as well as cryptocurrency and related digital assets regulation. She has wide-ranging in-house, government, and law firm experience. Prior to joining Willkie, Chelsea was Associate General Counsel at principal trading firm DRW, working with its digital asset trading business, Cumberland. At DRW, she led a team providing counsel on the application of the Commodity Exchange Act and federal securities laws, CFTC and SEC regulations thereunder, and applicable foreign law. She also provided legal and policy guidance on engagement with congressional, agency, and industry stakeholders on digital asset regulation and related securities, derivatives, banking, and administrative law matters.
Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to Chairman Heath Tarbert at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she provided legal and policy advice on Commission rulemakings, enforcement actions, and registration orders and other Commission and staff actions.
Chelsea’s practice focuses on derivatives, commodities, securities, and banking regulatory and enforcement matters, as well as cryptocurrency and related digital assets regulation. She has wide-ranging in-house, government, and law firm experience. Prior to joining Willkie, Chelsea was Associate General Counsel at principal trading firm DRW, working with its digital asset trading business, Cumberland. At DRW, she led a team providing counsel on the application of the Commodity Exchange Act and federal securities laws, CFTC and SEC regulations thereunder, and applicable foreign law. She also provided legal and policy guidance on engagement with congressional, agency, and industry stakeholders on digital asset regulation and related securities, derivatives, banking, and administrative law matters.
Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counsel to Chairman Heath Tarbert at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she provided legal and policy advice on Commission rulemakings, enforcement actions, and registration orders and other Commission and staff actions.
Experience
- CFTC Chairman’s Award for Staff Excellence, 2020
- Testifying witness, ”American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: From Blueprint to a Functional Framework,” Hearing Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, June 4, 2025
- Panelist, “What’s Keeping Your Customers Up at Night,” Futures Industry Association Law & Compliance Conference, April 24, 2025
- Panelist, “SEC Crypto Task Force Roundtable—Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading," April 11, 2025
- Panelist, “Market Structure Developments,” American Bar Association Derivatives & Futures Law Committee Winter Meeting, January 31, 2025
- Panelist, “The Role of Legal and Compliance in Cybersecurity and Crisis Management,” Futures Industry Association Law & Compliance Conference, April 26, 2024
- Panelist, “Fintech Trading Developments,” Practising Law Institute FinTech 2022 Conference, December 2022
- Panelist, “Derivatives Update—Uncleared Margin Rules,” MFA Legal & Compliance Conference, July 2020
- Speaker, “The Future of Derivatives Regulation,” ISDA Regulatory & Compliance Update, December 2019
- Co-author, “Insider Trading Enforcement Intensifies Across Markets and Regulators,” New York Law Journal, Jan. 28, 2019
Credentials
Education
George Washington University Law School, J.D. (summa cum laude), 2016 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. (with distinction), 2012