Bingham maintains one of the country’s leading broker-dealer practices, with a group of dedicated lawyers who advise and defend on the full range of market and regulatory issues. From timely advice on the subtle nuances of a new regulation to a full-court-press response to parallel proceedings, we stand ready to provide clients with a broad spectrum of services on the regional, national and international levels.
Our clients include nearly all of the major national and many regional and local broker-dealers, as well as securities exchanges, investment advisers, market makers, alternative trading systems, intermediaries, mutual fund distributors and dual-registered firms. Because of our broad national client base, we believe that we are uniquely qualified to opine on best practices and industry benchmarks in securities compliance and regulatory matters. We also represent boards of directors, audit committees and individuals. Throughout the industry, we are known for bringing an extraordinary breadth and depth of knowledge to bear on the issues confronting our clients in the ever-changing regulatory climate.
We offer assistance focused on the needs of the brokerage industry in these specialty areas: Trading & Markets, Compliance, Securities Enforcement and Investigations, and Litigation and Private Client Defense/Arbitration. Through our London-based Financial Regulatory Practice, we offer financial regulatory advisory and enforcement and investigations services to businesses or individuals subject to the FSA regime. In Japan, we can assist both Japanese and foreign-licensed securities firms with compliance, regulatory and enforcement matters. Our team includes distinguished alumni of every division of the Securities and Exchange Commission with broker-dealer oversight, as well as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FINRA, the securities agencies of various states, the North American Securities Administrators Association and the FSA (U.K.). Many of our partners were involved in the development of key securities and banking legislation or regulations, enhancing our institutional understanding of regulatory issues and their impact on broker-dealers. In addition, several of our lawyers have served as general counsel or in other senior positions at leading broker-dealer organizations, giving us increased sensitivity to the business and management needs of our client base.
As it is one of Bingham’s core practices, the firm has made a significant, long-term commitment to the Broker-Dealer Group’s growth and development. This enables us to recruit leading legal personnel at all levels from key regulatory agencies and from the industry, deepening our knowledge base and providing clients with the most focused, cost-effective and appropriate level of representation. We also maintain what is perhaps the industry’s most extensive securities regulation intranet, with instant access to all relevant statutes and regulations, and a myriad of other useful resources, such as an extensive knowledge bank, expert witness and arbitration databases, agency and subpoena contact lists, client policies and links, training materials and a database of the Broker-Dealer Group’s renowned research outlines — all designed to put relevant facts at our lawyers’ fingertips and minimize the time and money spent on research.