James Burns and Brant Brown, previously at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, have joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as Partners in the firm’s Financial Institutions Practice. Mr. Burns’ practice focuses on counseling broker-dealers, exchanges, clearing agencies, alternative trading systems (ATSs), hedge funds, and private equity clients, as well as other SEC registered entities and their boards, on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters. Mr. Brown’s practice focuses on advising broker-dealers, exchanges, clearing agencies, asset managers, and other financial institutions, including newly established entities, on compliance with federal securities laws and the rules of self-regulatory organizations (SROs).