Securities LitigationService Area + Legal PracticesWe enforce the rights of investors defrauded by the securities industry, and advise securities firms and associated persons on compliance, regulatory and employment matters.

Our securities litigation and arbitration team at McCausland Keen + Buckman has recovered tens of millions of dollars for individual and institutional investors who have been victims of securities fraud and abuse. We pursue aggressive action on behalf of our clients through arbitration, mediation, private negotiation, and litigation in state and federal courts. In addition to successfully pursuing many stockbroker fraud and abuse claims, we also have significant experience with claims related to failed investment products, deceptive insurance sales practices, and Ponzi schemes.

We choose our cases carefully:  our approach is not formulaic. Our focus is on the result for each client, not on settling a certain volume of cases each year. We give each case we take highly personalized attention and our commitment to proceed to arbitration or trial when it is in the client’s best interest.

Glenn Gitomer, a seasoned securities litigator, leads our team, which also includes Jean Hanna Bickhart, a very experienced litigator. Glenn has been handling complex litigation for over 35 years, and is perennially rated as “preeminent” by a leading survey of his peers. He has held key leadership roles with two organizations influential in shaping policy and practice in securities law - the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association and the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee.

In addition to representing wronged investors, we also advise securities firms on compliance, regulatory and employment matters.

The Securities Litigation attorney team

Deceptive Insurance Sales Practices

Securities clients often seek our counsel as a result of losses arising from deceptive insurance sales practices.  Typically, these individual investor clients have been the victims of high-pressure sales of unsuitable, complex investments with hidden fees, including steep surrender charges.  These investments include the following:

  • variable and indexed annuities
  • annuity swaps
  • viaticals
  • variable universal life policies

Our team has experience pursuing a variety of claims in connection with these investments, including policy churning / swapping, unsuitable investments, material misrepresentations and omissions, and inadequate disclosure of risks and fees.

Failed Investment Products

Our team works on behalf of investors who have suffered losses related to failed investment products.  We have significant experience resolving these disputes through arbitration, mediation, and private negotiation, as well as in state and federal court.  Support for clients includes actions related to the following claims and investments, such as:

  • fraudulent or unregistered investments
  • Ponzi schemes
  • hedge funds
  • private placements
  • structured products
  • leveraged bond funds
  • oil and gas limited partnerships
  • real estate investment trusts
  • tenants in common
  • viaticals
  • auction rate securities

Securities Arbitration

We have recovered tens of millions of dollars for wronged investors – both individual and institutional – in arbitration proceedings throughout the country.  Our team has extensive experience with the two major arbitration forums, AAA and FINRA, and regularly represents clients who have been victims of stockbroker fraud and abuses, failed investment products, deceptive insurance sales practices, and more.

Securities Compliance & Regulation

We help broker dealers and investment advisors avoid litigation by providing guidance on compliance and regulatory matters.  Services include:

  • advice on registration and licensing
  • review of written compliance policies
  • review of compliance and supervisory procedures, account agreements, and solicitor agreements
  • drafting and review of ADV and CRD filings
  • consultation during regulatory inquiries, audits and investigations
  • performance of mock regulator audits
  • responding to other compliance questions related to SEC regulations, federal and state securities laws, and FINRA rules

Securities Employment Disputes

Our team has significant experience representing members of the securities industry in a variety of employment-related disputes.  Our dispute resolution support covers the following areas:

  • restrictive covenants, including non-competition and non-solicitation clauses
  • Protocol for Broker Recruiting
  • U4-U5/CRD registration and disclosure issues, and defamation claims
  • commissions and partnership payouts
  • promissory notes and contracts
  • discrimination
  • hiring
  • performance
  • termination

Stockbroker Fraud & Abuses

We have a long track record representing investors harmed by the wrongful acts of stockbrokers and investment advisors.  Our work includes litigation, arbitration, mediation, and private negotiation in connection with the following claims:

  • excessive trading or “churning”
  • conflicted investment advice
  • insufficient disclosures of risks and fees
  • breach of fiduciary duty
  • unauthorized trading
  • Ponzi schemes
  • failure to supervise
  • misrepresentations and omissions
  • sector and security overconcentration
  • unsuitable or highly leveraged securities products