Practice Capabilities

Loeb & Loeb's securities litigators represent financial institutions, broker-dealers, corporations and their officers and directors in complex securities litigation, arbitrations and regulatory proceedings. As the regulatory climate becomes more strict and continues to put greater pressure on the industry, our national Securities Litigation, Arbitration and Regulatory Enforcement Group partners work with our clients to help to ensure aggressive, quality, focused representation.

Our lawyers have vast experience litigating securities class actions and derivative actions throughout the country, from pleadings through trials and appeals, as well as regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings. We have handled hundreds of securities arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the New York Stock Exchange and other self-regulatory organizations.  We have also represented several of the major accounting firms in securities-related professional responsibility lawsuits.

We also handle employment litigation and arbitration matters for the securities industry. Our areas of concentration include civil litigation before state and federal courts in cases involving ERISA matters; bonus compensation and contract disputes; class action wage and hour issues; discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination; unfair competition, corporate raiding, trade secret misappropriation and enforcement of restrictive covenants.

Service Approach

Our collective experience comes not only from trying and arbitrating hundreds of cases, but also from the prior experience of our team members, including former assistant U.S. attorneys, assistant district attorneys, general counsels, and managers in the securities industry.  With this inside perspective, we are able to assess cases early, pursue mediation avenues, and provide robust counsel to our clients.  Our approach has resulted in an excellent track record of trial and arbitration victories, as well as extremely favorable settlements for our clients.

Recent successes include:

• Obtained the dismissal of a $20 million unauthorized trading claim against Merrill Lynch in a FINRA (formerly NASD) arbitration, as well as obtained numerous pretrial dismissals and several awards in the client's favor following arbitration hearings
• Obtained the dismissal of numerous claims, including a Section 10(b) claim, brought against a trust company in a multiparty securities fraud litigation in federal court arising out of a stock purchase agreement
• Defended a major broker-dealer in industry arbitrations and a putative class action arising from alleged sales practice violations relating to collateralized mortgage obligations
• Represented a major accounting firm in connection with multiple investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and an investigation by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
• Obtained the dismissal of a former president and CEO of a publicly-traded entertainment company in a securities class action brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
• Obtained the dismissal of a publicly traded gemstone company and several of its officers and directors in a securities class action brought in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar settlement for Morgens, Waterfall Vintiadis & Company, Inc. in a lawsuit against a competitor for losses arising from an investment in the distressed debt of AmeriServe Food Distribution
• Defended Bertelsmann AG, Bertelsmann, Inc., and former CEO Thomas Middelhoff against a $3.5 billion claim by two former executives of AOL Europe

Clients and Industries

We represent a wide range of corporations and individuals in the financial services industry, including:

Leadership in Law

Members of the Securities Litigation, Arbitration and Regulatory Enforcement Group routinely conduct continuing legal education (CLE) programs for the firm's clients in the areas of securities law, expert testimony, document retention, and electronic discovery.

Securities Litigation, Arbitration and Regulatory Enforcement Group Chair Alyson Weiss is an adjunct professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where she has taught a course in pre-trial procedures.

Jerry Phillips participates as an instructor and moot court attorney in the annual National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts Consultants' Training Institute, teaching CPAs how to perform forensic accounting and serve as expert witnesses.

Loeb & Loeb is an active sponsor of the Securities Industry Association Legal and Compliance Division annual conference.  The firm also sponsors several other securities industry events.