Oklahoma City law firm GPNL Law offering strategic representation in business law, insurance disputes, and personal injury cases. Experienced attorneys serving Oklahoma and Texas.

Charles C. Zitzmann

Charles uniquely brings over two decades of combined legal and executive-level operational experience at leaders in the aerospace and defense, financial services, and legal industries. As Of Counsel to Goolsby, Proctor, Nelson & Lee (the “Firm”), he deploys that experience in advising board and executive leadership on making defensible, executable decisions where regulatory requirements, legal obligations, operational realities, and institutional risks collide.

Immediately prior to joining the Firm, Charles strategically eliminated vendor-contract dependencies that, at the 11th hour, imperiled the $55 billion sale of Credit Suisse’s (“CS”) securitized products origination, sales, and trading business to Apollo Global Management. Earlier in his tenure at CS, he resolved more than 450 regulatory inquiries and investigations – either closed with no further action or rendered inactive without penalty – brought against CS’ fixed-income and equities trading desks by the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, NFA, CME, Cboe, and NYSE. As in-house counsel to an alternative strategy hedge fund, Charles secured a 99% reduction of the SEC’s $56 million demand in an administrative proceeding alleging Class 3 asset valuation manipulation – a forum in which respondents rarely prevail.

In these and many other matters, Charles has been relied upon to make judgment calls in environments where regulatory scrutiny is constant, options are limited, and decisions carry immediate and durable consequences for institutions and their leadership.

Prior to building his legal and operational executive career, Charles served in the United States Air Force as an acquisition management/cost and economic analysis officer. At the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency, he informed the Deputy Secretary of the Air Force for Cost and Economics and, on occasion, the Secretary of Defense, of the cost-benefit analyses for various space system acquisition programs. At the Reconnaissance Systems Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, he modeled the costs for the USAF production and operation of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle system following its transfer from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Education

  • LL.M., Financial Services Law – New York Law School

  • J.D. – The George Washington University Law School

  • M.S., Acquisition Management/Cost & Economic Analysis – U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Engineering & Management

  • B.S., Legal Studies – U.S. Air Force Academy

Practice Areas

  • Financial Institutions Litigation & Regulatory Investigations – focusing on Community Banks, Credit Unions, & Wealth Managers

  • Insurance Defense & Coverage – D&O, Cyber, & Fidelity Liability

  • Transactional Risk & Insurance Advisory – M&A Representations & Warranties, Structured Finance

  • Insurance Provider Corporate & Regulatory Advisory

  • Government Contract & Procurement – focusing on Bidding, Negotiation, Compliance, & Disputes

  • Corporate Governance & Board Advisory

  • Vendor & Third-Party Risk/Operational Advisory

  • Small Business/Start-up Advisory – notably, WealthTech, RegTech, InsurTech, & LegalTech

  • Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution

Organizations, Honors & Certifications

Arbitration

  • Non-Public Arbitrator, FINRA

  • Arbitrator, National Futures Association

Certifications & Professional Education

  • Certified Regulatory Vendor Program Manager (Level I), Compliance Education Institute

  • Legal Operations Certification, CLOC Academy (Level 100; Level 200 – Strategic Planning)

  • Certified Commercial Contracts Manager (In Progress), NCMA

  • Certified Federal Contracts Manager (In Progress), NCMA

  • Certificate in Private Company Governance, Private Directors Association

  • Private Equity Company Governance, Private Directors Association

  • ESOP Governance Essentials, Private Directors Association

  • Certified Operating Partner in Private Equity (In Progress), VCI Institute

  • Certificate in Fundamentals of Alternative Investments, CAIA Association

  • Registered Professional Liability Underwriter+ (In Progress)

  • Certificate in the Business of Insurance, St. John’s University

Other Licenses

  • New York State Licensed Real Estate Broker


Admissions

The Supreme Court of the United States

U.S. Courts of Appeals

  • Second Circuit (Pending)

  • Tenth Circuit (Pending)

U.S. District Courts

  • Eastern & Southern Districts of New York

  • Northern District of Oklahoma 

  • Eastern & Western Districts of Oklahoma (Pending)

State Bars

  • New York

  • Oklahoma

Tribal Nation Bar Associations

  • Cherokee Nation

  • Chickasaw Nation

  • Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

  • Citizen Potawatomi Nation (Pending)

  • Muscogee (Creek) Nation

  • Osage Nation