Attorney Referral List

Securities Litigation and Enforcement Defense

The Securities Litigation and Enforcement Defense practice at Thelen LLP is centered on our promise to provide clients with an outstanding level of expertise. We offer a high level of personal partner involvement in every matter, while providing cost-effective advice and guidance grounded in the skills and experience needed for complex litigation.

Thelen attorneys have substantial litigation experience representing investment banks, brokerage firms, clearing firms and individuals. We also have extensive in-house experience at international financial services firms. Our attorneys have represented financial services companies in federal and state court litigations throughout the country in matters ranging from the defense of customer claims to complex federal class actions.

Thelen attorneys frequently deal with enforcement proceedings initiated by various regulatory authorities, including the SEC, the NYSE, and the NASD. We counsel clients on risk management, credit, and compliance, and assisted in the creation of the first online private securities exchange.

Thelen represents corporations, underwriters, investment banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, accountants, and lawyers in complex corporate and securities litigation and during governmental investigations.

Our attorneys defend clients in areas such as merger and acquisition litigations, corporate governance disputes, professional liability for attorneys and accountants, insurance and indemnity, and white collar crime. Thelen attorneys are often called upon to provide advice on securities law disclosure and compliance, financial reporting, fiduciary duty matters; directors' and officers' liability exposure and insurance, and indemnification.

Thelen's team includes former SEC officials and former Assistant United States Attorneys, who also have experience at other federal and state prosecutorial and regulatory agencies.

Thelen's attorneys have:

  • Successfully represented former Bank of America stockbroker Ted Sihpol, the sole person indicted in the New York Attorney General's mutual fund probe. On June 9, 2005, the highly publicized jury trial ended with acquittal on 29 counts, and an 11-1 hung jury (pro-acquittal) on 4 counts; 7 counts were dismissed mid-trial.

  • Handled over 250 NASD, NYSE, or AAA arbitrations for an array of financial services companies.

  • Represented clients in major securities cases throughout the country, including the consolidated multi-district class action proceedings entitled Mark Newby, et al. v. Enron Corporation, et al., now pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

  • Defended Wall Street clearing firms in over 40 arbitrations or court actions, frequently obtaining pre-hearing dismissals.

  • Handled numerous trials and appeals in federal and state courts, including matters before the United States Supreme Court and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

  • Represented clients in a wide variety of brokerage and clearing legal and operational issues, including suitability, fraud, unauthorized trading, violations of industry regulations, Reg T and margin errors, marketing issues, customer and inter-broker delivery disputes (e.g., ACATs, TIFs, DTC and NSCC questions), wrongful transfer and UCC Article 8 issues, order disputes, arbitrability, churning, annuities, state securities law issues, warrant calls, trade secrets, U-4 and U-5 claims, arbitrage trading issues, raiding and covenants not to compete.

  • Provided advice to clients on matters involving business transactions, securities lending, foreign joint ventures, disclosure, performance of internal investigations, and negotiation of agreements.

As a part of Thelen's Commercial Litigation practice group, our members have extensive backgrounds in all areas of litigation and trial practice. The best evidence of our abilities is reflected in what one federal district judge recently said about our firm's performance in a securities class action suit:

"Thelen…has given excellent representation in this hard-fought case. Their submissions to this Court have been of great assistance on complex issues of first impression. They have worked exceedingly hard, in the face of stiff opposition….Thelen has been uniformly professional and well prepared in their many appearances before this Court."

To learn more about Thelen's Securities Litigation and Enforcement Defense practice, please contact the following:

Karl D. Belgum
San Francisco
Tel: 415.369.7310
kbelgum@thelen.com