Scott Early first became involved with the Chicago Board of Trade as a litigator with the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis when the exchange had a case go before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s. Then the Hunt Brothers silver corner hit and there were a lot more lawsuits for the CBOT to deal with, and Early grew closer to the CBOT as he helped the exchange deal with them.
He was ultimately hired as the exchange’s general counsel when Tom Donovan took over as the CEO of the exchange. Early sat for an interview with John Lothian News for the MarketsWiki Education History of Financial Futures video series.
He explains why the Commodity Exchange Act was put in place and how the politics of the exchange impacted the way it was run.
Early talks about the differences between former CBOT Presidents Bob Wilmouth and Tom Donovan.
During his tenure as general counsel, there was a dispute with Dow Jones about the CBOT’s attempt to listed the Dow without permission from Dow. He explains what happened.
Early explains one of the biggest issues that he dealt with during his time at the CBOT: the issue of margins that popped up after the stock market crash of 1987 and equity exchange leaders trying to blame futures margins as a factor in the crash.
Look for part two of our History of Financial Futures interview with former CBOT General Counsel Scott Early coming soon.
