Joel Telpner is a corporate and finance partner in the New York office of the international law firm Sullivan & Worcester and is the head of the Firm’s Fintech and Blockchain Practice Group. He is a seasoned advisor, strategist and problem solver. Mr. Telpner brings more than 30 years of legal experience in a career that includes time as an AmLaw 100 partner, the former U.S. general counsel of a global financial institution, and a venture capitalist. He is a highly sought after legal advisor in the blockchain space.
– Pioneer in structuring some of the first ICOs and blockchain based applications;
– Structured the first issuance of digital securities utilizing blockchain technology for Overstock.com and helped in launching Overstock’s distributed ledger platform, tZero;
– Legal advisor for some of the biggest cryptocurrencies;
– Led a panel discussion about ICOs and best practices at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
He is working on policy initiatives on global regulatory issues for blockchain on behalf of the Global Blockchain Business Council, the Blockchain Research Institute and Wharton Reg@Tech. He is a member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance’s Legal Working Group, which focuses on best practices for ICOs, and of the Digital Currency & Ledger Defense Coalition, a coalition of lawyers and academics who focus on the legal issues surrounding digital currency and distributed ledger technology.
Mr. Telpner has an M.B.A. from University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School and a J.D., with distinction, The University of Iowa, and a B.B.A., The University of Iowa.
He has also had many awards and honors including: “Deal Maker of the Year,” Finance Monthly, 2014 ($1.5 billion issuance by SanDisk); “Lawyer of the Year,” Corporate LiveWire, 2014; New York Super Lawyers (2006-2007; 2013-2018 & The Legal 500 U.S. (2009-2018).