Bryan Cave’s securities litigation, enforcement and compliance group handles all types of matters arising under federal securities laws, including investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory agencies, class actions and other private civil lawsuits. We also advise broker-dealers, public companies, investment funds and individuals on compliance matters. We have experience as special or independent counsel, representing audit or special committees or acting as an independent monitor.

The group includes lawyers who have held senior positions at the SEC, United States Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Justice and other government agencies, as well as lawyers with years of experience advising on and litigating securities matters. Our ranks also include a former general counsel of the Securities Industry Association (now the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) with experience advocating regulatory reforms to the SEC and the U.S. Congress on behalf of financial services clients.

Our clients include corporations, officers and directors, broker-dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds, mutual funds, audit firms, registered persons and others involved in the capital markets. Our team is located throughout the United States.

The group regularly represents clients in the following areas:

• Investigations, enforcement proceedings and disciplinary actions brought by the SEC, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and state securities commissions. We handle matters involving accounting and disclosure issues such as revenue recognition, capitalizing vs. expensing, valuation of assets including derivatives and swaps, related-party disclosures, earnings management and violations of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Our matters also involve diverse aspects of broker-dealer regulation, including cases concerning complex trading, valuation, manipulation, continuing education, gifts and gratuities, suitability, churning and supervision. Our white collar lawyers handle securities-related grand jury investigations and matters with potential criminal consequences. For example, we defended former Tyco chief executive Dennis Koslowski in his two New York state trials.
• Private securities litigation, including class and derivative actions, private equity and hedge fund litigation, institutional and high-net-worth customer arbitrations and litigation over derivatives and structured financial products, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. These cases include class actions under section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 arising out of claims of public company financial misstatements, shareholder actions alleging breach of duty in connection with acquisitions of public companies, 10(b) claims by public companies against hedge funds and disputes among financial firms as investors in subprime-related derivatives.
• Compliance, including advice on regulatory audits, company policies and codes of ethics. In all engagements, we bring to bear the experience gained in litigating and defending investigations to help our clients avoid regulatory problems.
• Internal and independent investigations directed by in-house counsel, audit committees, or other groups of independent directors, or by independent monitors or trustees, receivers or examiners. For example, one of our partners was named as the independent monitor to examine financial transactions by AIG under an agreement resolving investigations by the SEC and Department of Justice.