Ellen M. Sheridan-Cona

With more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Ellen regularly represents businesses and their employees in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulatory investigations and inquiries, as well as federal and state inquiries on a variety of compliance and regulatory issues. Having spent over four years as senior regional counsel in the Department of Enforcement of FINRA prior to joining Eversheds Sutherland, Ellen has extensive knowledge of the regulatory process impacting registered entities and their associated persons. She also understands the in-house litigator perspective well, having worked for more than 12 years in that capacity for two major financial institutions.

As senior regional counsel in the Department of Enforcement in New York, Ellen worked on a broad range of enforcement matters involving high-risk representatives and high-risk firms, including insider trading, Ponzi schemes, stock manipulation, elder abuse, unauthorized trading, suitability, churning, excessive trading, complex products, outside business activities, private securities transactions, money laundering and failures to supervise. 

Prior to joining FINRA, Ellen was in-house counsel for two large New York-based broker-dealers where she conducted and directed internal investigations regarding potential regulatory violations, as well as employment-related issues; counseled on regulatory initiatives, applicability of securities laws and regulatory rules; and successfully first-chaired the defense of numerous arbitrations and expungement proceedings.

Her time as both a regulator and an in-house counsel will allow her to provide clients with unique perspectives as they address their regulatory issues. In addition to her client work, Ellen is deeply committed to firm culture, diversity, and inclusion.

Ellen maintains an active pro bono and community involvement practice, supporting organizations that advance access to justice and education, including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Ayuda, Inc., Volare, and the School Consent Project. She also serves as a co-lead of Eversheds Sutherland's Allyship Group, participates in the firm’s Scholars Program, mentors through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and is a member of the Trail Blazers Board.