Patrick Daugherty

Patrick Daugherty conceived and directs the digital assets and web3 practice of Foley & Lardner LLP as a partner of the firm based in Chicago. Clients include major US and non-US exchanges, trading platforms, merchant banks, institutional investors, crypto funds and proprietary trading firms, as well as software developers and token issuers. Mr. Daugherty also is Foley’s most senior corporate securities lawyer, advising boards, executives, entrepreneurs and investors on strategic initiatives and governance. He advises commercial banks, finance companies, insurance companies, investment banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, ATSs, SEFs, investment advisors, mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, family offices and DAOs in transactions, SEC and FINRA matters and other regulatory matters.

Mr. Daugherty has lectured at a number of law schools over his four-decade legal career, including most recently at Northwestern and IIT-Kent. He is the author, co-author or editor of several books on securities regulation and new financial products. He is an Emeritus Member of the American Law Institute.

Mr. Daugherty is a member of the Bar in New York, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Michigan and Illinois. Credentialing organizations have named him “Lawyer of the Year” in Michigan (2007) and “Lawyer of the Year (Corporate)” in Illinois (2022). A graduate of Northwestern (B.S., with honors, 1978) and of Cornell (J.D., cum laude, 1981), he clerked in 1981-1982 for SDNY Chief Judge Lloyd F. MacMahon and was seconded to clerk for Judge Edward Weinfeld when MacMahon took senior status. Mr. Daugherty served as Counsel to SEC Commissioner Edward H. Fleischman in Washington from 1986 to 1989.