SECURITIES LAWYER
WHAT SECURITIES LAWYERS DO
A securities lawyer may help people or companies that are involved with investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), a U.S. Attorney’s Office (“USAO”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), a State securities regulator or State prosecutor, or a self-regulatory organization (“SRO”) like FINRA. Securities lawyers may also serve as trial or defense counsel in cases brought in court by the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, USAO, or a State securities regulator or State prosecutor. They may also represent clients in administrative proceedings brought by a securities regulator. In a disciplinary proceeding brought by an SRO, the lawyer representing the individual or company against the SRO may be a securities lawyer.
When a company thinks that one or more of its employees may have violated the securities laws, the company may hire a securities lawyer to conduct an internal investigation at the company to find out what happened.
A securities lawyer may also represent clients in courtroom trials or in arbitrations against other people or companies. Some securities lawyers represent the parties that file the lawsuits (the plaintiffs or claimants). Other securities lawyers represent the defendants (or respondents) in lawsuits -- the people or companies that are being accused of having done something that harmed the plaintiff. Yet other securities lawyers may do both and may represent either the plaintiff or the defendant in a particular case.
Certain securities lawyers (also known as SEC whistleblower lawyers) represent people who want to provide information about possible securities violations to the SEC in accordance with the SEC's whistleblower award program. If the SEC's requirements are satisfied, a qualified whistleblower(s) can receive a monetary award of between 10% - 30% of the monetary sanctions that the SEC collects in a covered action and any related actions. For additional information about the SEC Whistleblower award program, please click here.
A securities lawyer may do all of the above things, or may focus on one or more specific areas. These are only examples of some of the things that securities lawyers may do. Other securities lawyers may do additional things or different kinds of things.
About Securities Lawyer Jason Pickholz
Mr. Pickholz has represented clients in many cases in the field of securities law, on both the whistleblower side and the defense side, since 1995.
For example, he is one of the first securities lawyers ever to win an SEC whistleblower award for a client. He is also the first securities lawyer to successfully convince the Securities and Exchange Commission to grant his client an SEC whistleblower award over an initial recommendation by its staff to deny any award. This was the first time in the history of the SEC Whistleblower Program that the Commission overruled an adverse Preliminary Determination by its Claims Review Staff (see official SEC Award here), and was named by Inside Counsel Magazine as one of the "Five milestones in the Dodd-Frank whistleblower reward program".
Mr. Pickholz has represented a public company and its CEO in the SEC’s COVID-19 investigations; a company in an enforcement action brought by the CFTC involving cryptocurrency and binary options; a former United States Senator in connection with an investigation into a public pension fund; a senior executive officer in an SEC investigation of a billion dollar mutual fund family; and a leading specialist in the NYSE Floor Specialists cases. He was counsel in the first disciplinary case brought by FINRA; the first anti-money laundering case brought by FinCen and the NYSE together against an NYSE member firm; and in two cases that Crain’s New York Business referred to as among the largest stock fraud cases of the early 21st century involving New York-based companies.
For additional examples of some of the cases that Mr. Pickholz has been involved in, please click on the "Our Cases & Results" link on the right side of this page or click here and open the various tabs on the page.
Mr. Pickholz is an author of the 2-volume book Securities Crimes, published by Thomson Reuters.
He is also a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation, an elected honor that is limited to 1% of the 74,000 members in the New York State Bar Association.
For more information about Mr. Pickholz’s experience as a securities lawyer, please click here.
Securities lawyer Jason Pickholz on defending an SEC investigation.
Securities lawyer Jason Pickholz on the creation of the SEC Whistleblower program.
