Patrick M. Dennis has been involved in the securities industry for over 25 years, most recently as one of the Founding Principals of Oyster Consulting, LLC, a compliance, regulatory, operations and technology consulting firm for broker/dealers, investment advisers, mutual funds and hedge funds.  

Previously Patrick was a Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel to Wachovia Securities, LLC.  Patrick moved to Wachovia (or its predecessors) in 1998, where he was in charge of all litigation and regulatory matters affecting the retail brokerage firm.  He managed securities litigation and arbitration matters until 2003 when he moved into a Senior Regulatory Counsel position.  In this capacity, he handled a number of high profile regulatory matters for the firm including, mutual fund breakpoints, mutual fund market timing, inactive fee based accounts and closed end funds.  Patrick also served as Senior Regulatory Counsel to Wachovia’s Investment Advisory line of business.

Patrick began his legal career in 1986 as a Staff Attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Division of Corporation Finance in Washington, D.C.  He then became a Corporate and Securities Associate at the D.C. office of Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft where he was involved in mortgage backed securities and commodity pool offerings and corporate governance issues.  He returned to the SEC in the Division of Enforcement from 1991 through 1996 where he worked on a variety of cases including complex financial fraud, insider trading, broker/dealer issues and revenue recognition.  From 1996 to 1998, he served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and a member of the senior management team of Banc One Securities Corporation, Bank One Corporation’s bank brokerage firm.

Patrick is a FINRA Industry Arbitrator and a member of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Compliance & Legal Division and the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni.  He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.

Patrick obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Law School.  He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Virginia (Corporate Counsel) and Wisconsin (inactive).   Patrick has passed the FINRA Series 7, Series 24 and Series 66 exams which are currently active.  On an interim basis, Patrick provides CCO services for Registered Investment Advisers and Broker/Dealers.