Petal Walker advises banks, funds, brokers, commercial companies exchanges and clearinghouses, as well as innovators in the digital space, in meeting compliance obligations for the derivatives markets.  Ms. Walker joined Deloitte & Touche LLP in 2021.  Prior to that, Ms. Walker rejoined WilmerHale in 2017 after serving as chief counsel for Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the CFTC, where she advised on policy and enforcement issues and lead the Market Risk Advisory Committee.

Ms. Walker also assists market participants by alerting them to the issues raised by, and helping them demonstrate compliance with, the requirements of the Dodd-Frank regulatory framework. Ms. Walker has rendered advice to CFTC registrants and end-users regarding the Dodd-Frank requirements in a number of areas, including reporting, mandatory clearing, product definition, segregation of customer funds, risk management and financial resource requirements.

As chief counsel for Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the CFTC, Ms. Walker advised Commissioner Bowen on a variety of significant derivatives-related issues, clearinghouses, exchanges, swap execution facilities and swap data repositories—including CCP resilience, recovery and resolution, equivalence, execution methods, algorithmic trading, and reporting requirements; intermediaries—including clearing members, swap dealers, and asset managers on issues including portability, capital and margin, the de minimis requirement, and cross-border harmonization; and emerging technology market participants including issues such as FMI registration and the clearing obligation.

Prior to her three years at the CFTC, Ms. Walker was a senior associate at WilmerHale.

Professional Activities

Ms. Walker is on the board of Women In Derivatives (WIND). She is also a member of the ABA Derivatives and Futures Law Committee Innovative Digitized Products and Processes Subcommittee; Derivatives, Securitization, and Project Finance Committee of the Corporation, Finance and Securities Section of the District of Columbia Bar Association; and the Derivatives and Futures Law Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.