SAN FRANCISCO — May 13, 2024
Key takeaways
- Isabelle Corbett Sterling has joined BakerHostetler’s San Francisco office as counsel in the Business Practice Group and as a member of the Blockchain Technologies and Digital Assets team. She will also join the firm’s Financial Services team.
- Previously, Sterling served as head of government relations at a technology company specializing in enterprise blockchain solutions. Her in-house counsel experience, combined with her prior experience in private practice at an Am Law 50 firm, provides her with key perspective to advise clients on a broad range of matters within the fintech industry.
- Sterling’s arrival is part of BakerHostetler’s strategic growth in San Francisco, where the firm recently announced its five-year lease renewal in the city’s iconic Transamerica Pyramid.
Why this matters
Sterling is the latest addition to BakerHostetler’s San Francisco office and solidifies the firm’s commitment to nationwide growth, particularly on the West Coast. Sterling brings a comprehensive practice with deep experience in fintech, commodities and derivatives and will bolster the Web3, digital asset and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission capabilities of the firm’s San Francisco office and its Financial Services team.
Key quote
“Isabelle is a highly regarded fintech attorney, and we are thrilled she is joining us in San Francisco, home to many of the world’s most innovative financial technology companies,” said John Allotta, chair of BakerHostetler’s Business Practice Group. “Her knowledge and experience in cutting-edge blockchain and digital assets issues strengthen our capabilities as we continue to serve our clients’ growing regulatory and enforcement needs in that rapidly evolving space.”
About Sterling’s practice
Sterling is a commodity and derivatives attorney with a strong focus on blockchain technology and digital assets. She advises clients on a broad range of matters including regulatory, enforcement, investigational, transactional and legislative issues and on the implementation of innovative technologies and the development of innovative products, such as virtual currencies and blockchain-based assets. She has extensive experience in advocacy at the CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with prudential regulators, and on Capitol Hill on issues relating to emerging technology such as blockchain, digital assets and NFTs as well as futures, options, swaps and commodity markets.
Sterling regularly represents crypto network and protocol development companies, custodians, exchanges, clearing organizations, payments companies, independent software vendors, startups, trade associations, financial institutions, proprietary trading firms, venture capital firms and their portfolio companies, blockchain services firms, intermediaries, and end users.
Sterling received her B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and her J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law.
Key quote
“We are excited to have Isabelle join our San Francisco office. She is an excellent practitioner with an outstanding reputation in the fintech community,” said Robb Adkins, managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office. “As we continue to recruit top-tier talent, Isabelle’s repertoire of skills will complement our growing financial services practice. Plus, her knowledge and experience, particularly with digital assets, will be an immediate resource to our clients in the fintech space.”
BakerHostetler’s Business Practice Group handles thousands of corporate transactions each year. The full-service team, consisting of more than 250 attorneys in offices across the United States, has extensive experience closing all varieties of transactions — including mergers and acquisitions and private equity, real estate, debt finance, capital markets and securities, health care and regulatory, restructuring and bankruptcy, emerging companies and venture capital, commercial transactions, and other matters central to a company’s success. A national group with a global reach, BakerHostetler’s Business Practice Group is consistently named a go-to firm by both Chambers USA and Legal 500. For more information, visit bakerlaw.com/services/business/. Connect with us on the social platform X at @BakerHostetler or on LinkedIn at @BakerHostetler, @JohnAllotta, @RobbAdkins or @IsabelleCorbettSterling.
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About BakerHostetler
BakerHostetler helps clients around the world address their most complex and critical business and regulatory issues. Our highly ranked attorneys deliver sophisticated counsel and outstanding client service. We have six core practice groups — Business, Digital Assets and Data Management, Intellectual Property, Labor and Employment, Litigation, and Tax — and more than 1,000 lawyers coast to coast. For more information, visit bakerlaw.com.