Athena Yvonne Eastwood, a partner in the Washington, DC office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, represents financial institutions, hedge funds, energy and commodity companies, and agricultural cooperatives in government investigations and regulatory, legislative and compliance matters involving commodities and derivatives. She has extensive experience with respect to all aspects of implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and its impact on swap dealers, end-users, futures commission merchants, commodity pool operators, and commodity trading advisors. Athena also advises clients with respect to a wide range of transactional matters relating to the purchase and sale of physical commodities, including crude oil, natural gas, coal, environmental commodity products, and agricultural commodities.
A frequent author, she also speaks regularly regarding commodities regulatory, compliance and enforcement developments. Athena is a member of the Executive Committee of the Futures Industry Association Legal and Compliance Division and has been noted in the Legal 500 United States. She is also an active member of the ABA’s Committee on Regulation of Futures and Derivatives Instruments and the drafting committee of ISDA’s Energy, Commodities and Developing Products Working Group. Athena is also an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia Law School and the George Washington Law School in Washington D.C., where she teaches classes on energy commodities and derivatives regulation.
Athena received her J.D. from University of Virginia Law School, where she served as executive editor of the Virginia Environmental Law Journal, and a B.A. from Georgetown University. She was a semifinalist in the Lile Moot Court Competition and was awarded regional best oralist in the Jessup International Moot Court Competition. Prior to law school, Athena worked as a United States Page for the Honorable Gerald B. Solomon, and served as an intern for Senator John Warner on Capitol Hill.
Formerly known professionally as Athena Velie, Athena is admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, founded in downtown New York in 1792, is proud of more than 200 years of service to many of the world’s most prestigious institutions. Our rich history and participation in many significant social, economic, and legal issues accompanying the growth of the U.S. have led us to also become one of the world’s most prominent law firms, with influence that has expanded around the globe as we advise clients with interests in Europe, South America and the Pacific Rim.
With more than 450 attorneys in eight offices—New York, London, Charlotte, Washington, Houston, Beijing, Hong Kong and Brussels—we offer clients innovative solutions to legal and financial issues in a wide range of areas, including antitrust, business fraud, compliance and regulation, corporate and commercial finance, derivatives and structured products, energy and commodities, ERISA, executive compensation and benefits, financial restructuring, governance, healthcare, insurance, intellectual property, investment management, litigation, M&A, not-for-profit, private equity, private wealth, securitization and asset based finance, and tax matters.
