Zila Acosta-Grimes is a counsel in Linklaters LLP’s Financial Regulatory Group based in the New York office. She is a financial crimes, payments and bank regulatory lawyer with over a decade of experience advising global corporations, financial institutions, fintechs, and digital asset companies on complex regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters. Professor Acosta-Grimes’ practice sits at the intersection of anti-money laundering (“AML”), sanctions, state and federal authorization (including state licensing), and digital asset regulation on banking regulatory, transactional, and compliance matters. Prior to joining Linklaters LLP, Professor Acosta-Grimes worked at another law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and at Goldman Sachs in their Compliance Department.

Professor Acosta-Grimes attended Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; an articles editor at the Columbia Law Review; and a university senator, chairing the Student Caucus and Rules Committee of the University Senate. She received a B.A. from Columbia College at Columbia University in 2011.

In 2022, Professor Acosta-Grimes was named a Hispanic National Bar Association Top Lawyer Under 40 and received Columbia Law School’s Latinx Law Student Association’s Private Sector Award. In 2018, Professor Acosta-Grimes received Debevoise’s Pro Bono Service Award for her work representing the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance’s Puerto Rico Fund for Growth. In 2017, she received the Puerto Rican Bar Association’s Flor De Maga award as a rising legal star.

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