The CFTC announced that General Counsel Jonathan Marcus will depart the agency. Robert Schwartz, the current Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Adjudication, will serve as Acting General Counsel.

MR. MARCUS JOINED THE CFTC AGENCY ….  in 2011 as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation, and was promoted to General Counsel in 2013. As General Counsel, Mr. Marcus provided legal counsel to the Commission on the implementation of the swaps market reforms contained in Dodd-Frank, including with respect to the Commission’s approach to cross-border regulation of the swaps market. During his tenure, Mr. Marcus provided advice to the Commission and staff on a wide range of other matters, including CFTC reauthorization, responses to Congressional and Inspector General investigations, enforcement issues, inter-agency agreements, administrative law and ethics.

In 2013, Mr. Marcus won a crucial victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, successfully defending the CFTC’s approach to the consideration of costs and benefits under the Commodity Exchange Act. Under Mr. Marcus’s supervision and leadership, the CFTC fended off other significant legal challenges, including to the CFTC’s 2013 Cross-Border Interpretive Guidance and Policy Statement.

Before joining the CFTC, Mr. Marcus was Of Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP. He had previously served at the U.S. Department of Justice, representing the United States in the Supreme Court, where he argued 5 cases as an Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2004 to 2007, and in the U.S. Courts of Appeals where he argued numerous cases as an appellate attorney in the Criminal Division from 1998 to 2004. Mr. Marcus began his career as a law clerk to Judge José Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale in 1990 and received a JD from Yale Law in 1994.

ROB SCHWARTZ JOINED THE COMMISSION ….  from Arnold & Porter in 2011 as an Assistant General Counsel. In 2013, he became Deputy General Counsel for Litigation & Adjudication. He holds a BA from Tufts and a JD, magna cum laude, from NYU Law. Mr. Schwartz began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Amalya Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.