Working with Fortune 500 broker-dealers, their executives and relevant teams, to small independent investment advisors, financial planners, insurance agents and companies, BCLP guides clients in the securities industry through an ever-changing regulatory landscape.  Providing thoughtful counsel and, when necessary, strong advocacy in disputes to help them achieve their business objectives, our clients regularly turn to us for the most complicated and highest-exposure matters.   

Our securities industry clients have access to a deep bench of professionals with the experience necessary to efficiently and effectively bring matters to a close. Our objective is to make sure we understand the business model of each of our securities industry clients and tailor our representation to achieve optimum results consistent with their business goals.  

Even with careful front-end compliance and regulatory planning, industry participants consistently face inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions by government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and self-regulatory organizations (SRO) such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). When investigations or enforcement actions arise, clients regularly count on our team to provide outstanding representation in all aspects of the investigation and enforcement process at both the federal and state level. Our team includes the former Deputy Regional Chief Counsel for the Midwest Region of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA), a former Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a former Assistant United States Attorney who handled significant white-collar matters, and a former in-house counsel for a major broker-dealer. We not only have years of experience in representing broker-dealers and investment advisors, we also have established longstanding relationships with the regulators.  

We also routinely defend brokerage firms, individual brokers, investment advisors and other financial industry clients in an array of complex disputes, including class actions, FINRA arbitrations, and other proceedings across the country. We regularly handle claims concerning allegations of “selling-away,” unauthorized trading, fraud, inadequate supervision, money-market sweeps, unsuitability, churning, and violations of state and federal securities laws, including state Blue Sky laws, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Investment Advisors Act of 1940. We also represent clients in intra-industry disputes such as raiding and U-5 defamation claims.  

Our breadth of knowledge and experience in the financial industry means our clients don’t have to waste time bringing us up to speed on the basics.  We regularly defend claims arising from investments in a wide variety of financial products, including stocks, bonds, options, real estate investment trusts (REITs), market linked notes and CDs, mutual funds, structured products, variable annuities, fixed annuities, equity indexed annuities, auction rate securities, asset protection trusts, and private placements.