Cryptoassets and Decentralized Finance

Lee A. Schneider is a financial services and technology lawyer with extensive experience in blockchain who currently serves as general counsel for Ava Labs. He co-hosts the “Appetite for Disruption” podcast with Troy Paredes and is the contributing editor for the Chambers and Partners Fintech Practice Guide. Mr. Schneider co-founded Owl Explains and is active with a number of other organizations. He is the father of two wonderful college students and learns about Japanese art history from his wife.

Patrick Daugherty conceived of and directs the digital assets and Web3 practice of Foley & Lardner LLP from his home office in Chicago. The author, co-author, or editor of several books on securities regulation and new financial products, he is also Adjunct Professor of Crypto Assets and Web3 at CLS and lectures on securities law and digital assets at Northwestern Pritzker, University of Miami, UCLA, and IIT-Kent. Mr. Daugherty is Foley’s most senior corporate securities lawyer, advising executives, entrepreneurs, and investors on strategic initiatives and governance. Rated AV Preeminent® among lawyers, he is an Emeritus Member of the American Law Institute, and credentialing organizations have named him “Lawyer of the Year” in Michigan (2007) and “Lawyer of the Year” in Illinois (2022). A graduate of Northwestern University and Cornell Law School, Mr. Daugherty clerked in one year for two Chief Judges of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Lin William Cong is the Rudd Family Professor of Management and Associate Professor of Finance at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University. Prior to joining Cornell, Professor Cong was an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and faculty member at the Center for East Asian Studies. He was also a doctoral fellow at the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies and a George Shultz Scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Professor Cong is currently a Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellow as well as one of Poets & Quants World’s Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors. He serves as an associate editor for Management Science and the Journal of Banking and Finance, and he is a member of multiple professional organizations. Professor Cong earned a Ph.D. in Finance and an M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University, where he was recognized with the Lieberman Fellowship for outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and university service.