David R. Allen has over thirty years of experience in commodity law. He began his career in the General Counsel's Office of the National Futures Association, the self-regulatory agency of the commodity industry. At NFA, he was involved in drafting NFA compliance rules and interpretative notices, as well as investigations and hearings. He then joined Chapman and Cutler, a large Chicago law firm. At Chapman, he worked in the division that focused exclusively on providing legal services to trading advisors and pool operators.
In November 1989, Mr. Allen established his own law firm that specializes in commodity law, with a particular concentration in organizing commodity pools; preparing disclosure documents for trading advisors and offering documents for commodity pools; reviewing and drafting agreements; and providing counsel on a wide range of regulatory issues.
Mr. Allen graduated with High Honors from the University of Notre Dame and has a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
He has authored several articles that were published in the Commodities Law Letter, including “NFA Current Rule Developments: 'Know Your Customer,' Disclosure of Fees and FCM & IB Discretionary Account Disclosure” and “New Rule Explained: NFA's 'Know Your Customer' Rule 2-30."