|
Business Litigation
Securities/Investment Litigation
The scope and complexity of the securities laws, coupled
with the expanded direct and indirect participation of the American population
in the securities markets, created a growth industry in securities
litigation and arbitration. With the downturn in the economy, more people
than ever before are looking for someone to blame for the poor performance
of their portfolios and are filing suits against those who issue, manage
and buy and sell securities and other investments.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers,
a record number of class action suits were filed in 2001, up 30% over
2000. The National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. processed a
record number of arbitration cases in 2001. Frequently the claims are:
- Misrepresentation and omissions
- Unsuitable recommendations
- Over-concentration
- Inappropriate use of margin
- Excessive trading
- Unauthorized investments
- Failure to execute an order
Most complaints are asserted
against individual brokers, broker/dealers or issuers of securities.
With the publicity surrounding the accounting problems and other issues
at Enron, the investigations of analysts at brokerage firms, and claims
against accounting firms, more suits are likely to be filed against underwriters,
accountants, corporate retirement programs and analysts.
It is important to have experienced counsel working
to protect you against such claims. You need attorneys who are as competent
in front of an arbitration panel as they are in front of a judge, a regulatory
body or a jury.
Our Securities/Investment Litigation team routinely handles matters, such
as:
- Defending clients against claims of improper conduct by brokers
- Representing clients in investigations and enforcement proceedings brought by regulatory agencies (including the SEC and State Securities Commissions and SROs)
- Defending clients against claims of "unsuitable investments"
We have defended clients against numerous claims of
the most common types, as well as unusual claims arising out of different
types of investment products and markets. We defended securities and commodities
brokerage firms against claims that employees and/or clients of the firm
were engaged in market manipulation schemes. We have defended a securities
firm against claims that the firm improperly secured institutional business
through complex kickback schemes involving soft-dollar arrangements with
investment advisors. Our attorneys counsel brokerage firms concerning
both regulatory and liability issues arising from situations in which
employees were alleged to have defrauded investors through fictitious
private securities transactions conducted away from the brokerage firm.
The Firm recently represented several investment advisors dealing with
the insolvency of a trust company that had acted as the custodian of the
advisors' clients' funds, where the insolvency occurred because of a massive
misappropriation of cash being held in a money market account for the
trust company's customers. In appropriate cases, we work with clients
to devise strategies to preemptively resolve potential claims for damages
and reduce regulatory compliance penalties.
We also handle matters involving broker/dealers and
their own employees. These include cases where representatives of broker/dealers
have left one firm and taken clients, and situations in which
individuals may have breached their contractual agreements with an employer.
We also do general securities work, including:
- Working with underwriters
- Counseling on disclosure language
- Working on mergers and acquisitions, including "hostile takeovers"
- Proxy battles
- Other disputes regarding control of a company, including appraisal rights upon a change in control or other extraordinary corporate transactions
|