Lecturer Bios
Susan L. Harper, Esq.
Susan L. Harper, Esq. is the New York/New Jersey Director of the Bates Group LLC. Ms. Harper is an experienced litigation attorney who has represented major broker dealers, insurance companies, clearing firms and their employees throughout the United States on a variety of matters before FINRA, SEC and state and federal courts in connection with customer, industry, and employment disputes, as well as compliance and regulatory matters. She has successfully defended, mediated and settled claims involving wrongful termination/discrimination, suitability, speculative products, hedge funds, over concentration, fraud, churning, misappropriation, negligence, fiduciary duty, failure to supervise and Form U4/U5 related matters.
She is experienced in advising clients and devising strategic approaches and strategies to securities arbitration and litigation matters; interviewing and prepping witnesses; analyzing potential arbitration panels; coaching and making recommendations to clients; drafting arbitration and litigation pleadings; conducting legal, investigative research and background checks; managing and coordinating pre-hearing conferences and discovery, including e-discovery, FINRA/court mandated discovery, issuances of subpoenas; pre-hearing preparation and hearing processes.
Sample Representative Cases include:
- Successfully represented global financial services company in motion to compel arbitration in Surrogate’s Court (Published decision; Matter of Depinto v UBS, 17 MS 2008, NY Surrogate’s Court (Suffolk County, 2010)
- Mediated suitability claim on behalf of national discount broker concerning naked puts, straddles and options contracts in third party managed accounts
- Served as lead associate for law firm regulatory team on behalf of 60-year-old Wall Street brokerage house concerning FINRA penny stock, AML regulatory inquiry, hedge fund dispute
- Successfully defended Fortune 500 client in overconcentration claim concerning multiple hedge funds
- Served as lead associate for law firm arbitration team that successfully defended a multimillion dollar fraud claim brought against nationally known clearing firm client. After a nine-day trial on the merits, the claim against the client was denied in its entirety
- Successfully negotiated settlements for broker-dealers concerning FINRA claims of suitability, misallocation, overconcentration, fraud and speculative retail product
- Represented insurance company in FINRA claim concerning variable annuities and insurance related products
- Represented registered representative and Fortune 500 Company concerning suitability of investments in third party managed accounts
- Represented Fortune 500 Company in FINRA suitability claim concerning hedge fund investment
- Represented Fortune 500 Company in multiple South American retail customer claims
Norman B. Arnoff, Esq.
Commercial law practice in New York City and in governmental legal positions in areas of insurance coverage/defense and professional liability of lawyers, accountants, securities broker-dealers and investment advisers and their representatives. Substantial litigation and appellate experience, including supervision and handling of hundreds of NASD/FINRA and other arbitrations. Regular columnist on professional liability issues for New York Law Journal, and author of articles for Securities Litigation and Securities Arbitration Commentators, and other publications as well as extensive speaking and published writing on professional liability and securities law topics.
EDUCATION:
- New York University School of Law, J.D., New York, NY, February 1969.
- New York University, BA, Bronx, NY, June 1965.
Honors: Phi Beta Kappa; Founders Day Award for Scholarship.
Ralph A. Siciliano, Esq.
As head of the Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt's Governmental and Regulatory Investigations Practice, Ralph Siciliano represents investment advisors, private funds, broker-dealers and their associated persons, and officers and directors of publicly held companies in connection with investigations and enforcement proceedings brought by federal and state authorities and self-regulatory organizations, including the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, offices of the United States Attorney, and State Attorneys General. Having held senior enforcement positions in the New York Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ralph has extensive experience dealing with federal and state regulatory agencies and self-regulatory organizations. Ralph also represents officers and directors of public companies and financial services institutions and individuals in securities-related litigations, including the defense of class actions, shareholder derivative actions and claims by bankruptcy trustees. Ralph also has served as counsel to Audit Committees and other Special Committees of the Boards of Directors of public and not-for-profit corporations in connection with corporate governance issues.
Ralph has been selected for inclusion in New York Super Lawyers for 2011-2013.
Andrew Stemmer, Esq.
Andrew Stemmer is a Director and Senior Counsel in the Litigation and Regulatory Investigations group of Deutsche Bank AG, New York, where he handles a wide range of litigation, internal investigations, and regulatory enforcement matters pertaining to the bank’s Americas region. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Stemmer was a litigator with the law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he focused on securities, complex commercial disputes, and bankruptcy.
Stephen P. Younger, Esq.
Stephen Younger, Past President of the New York State Bar Association, is a leading commercial litigator who is also well-known for his alternative dispute resolution work. Having been with Patterson Belknap since 1985, Mr. Younger has more than 30 years of experience as a commercial litigator. As a seasoned trial lawyer, he has tried many cases in federal and state court and before arbitration panels. He also frequently argues appeals, particularly in the appellate courts of New York. Based on his significant ADR experience, he is often called on to serve as an arbitrator or mediator in high-stake matters.
Mr. Younger’s clients include financial institutions, mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds and venture capital firms involved in commercial, securities and real estate disputes. He has also developed an extensive practice representing Latin American companies in U.S.-related matters.
In addition to his previous role as State Bar President, Mr. Younger has sat on numerous New York State Bar Association committees. He is Past Chair of the New York State Bar Association's Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, having previously served as Chair of its Securities Litigation Committee and of its ADR Committee. Mr. Younger also served as Chair of the New York State Bar Association's Task Force on Nonlawyer Ownership of Law Firms. He is a member of the ABA’s House of Delegates, and chairs the ABA’s International Mediation Committee. He serves as the ABA’s representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council as a member of its Standing Committee on the American Judicial System and was Chair of the ABA Task Force on International Trade in Legal Services.
Mr. Younger was appointed to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Transition Committee and was also the Transition Director for Mr. Cuomo when he was the New York State Attorney General. He was also appointed to the Transition Committee for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Mr. Younger was a member of the Transition Committee for New York County District Attorney, Cyrus Vance. Mr. Younger was counsel to the New York State Commission on Judicial Nominations which nominates New York’s Court of Appeals Judges, and is a member of the First Department Judicial Screening Committee.
Mr. Younger serves on the Board of Directors for the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, and previously served as the Chair of its Executive Advisory Committee for seven years. He is also a founding board member of the New York International Arbitration Center. He is on the Board of Directors of the Fund for Modern Courts and received the Fund’s John J. McCloy Award. He served on the Chief Judge's Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century, and currently serves on both the Chief Judge’s Commercial Division Advisory Council and the Advisory Committee to the New York County Commercial Division. He was formerly a member of the Chief Judge’s Advisory Committee on New York State Pro Bono Bar Admission Requirements. A long time Trustee of Albany Law School, Mr. Younger is Past President of its National Alumni Council.
Mr. Younger has spoken at more than 200 seminars and written over 30 articles in the fields of securities litigation, commercial arbitration and international dispute resolution.
Prior to joining Patterson Belknap, Mr. Younger served as Law Clerk to the Hon. Hugh R. Jones, Associate Judge for the New York Court of Appeals.
Richard D. Owens, Esq.
Richard Owens is Chair of the Litigation Department in the New York office of Latham & Watkins. He principally represents corporations and individuals in criminal and regulatory matters, conducts internal investigations and advises on compliance matters.
Mr. Owens served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 1994 through 2006. For four years he served as Chief of its Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and supervised many of the nation's highest profile corporate fraud and insider trading prosecutions, including WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, American BankNote, ImClone Systems, Impath, Inc. and Royal Ahold, N.V. He also coordinated the office’s criminal prosecutions with parallel civil matters brought by the SEC, CFTC, the Federal Reserve Banks and state regulators.
He twice received the Attorney General’s annual Distinguished Service Award: in 1996 for the prosecution of Daiwa Bank and in 2000 for the prosecution of Patrick R. Bennett relating to the then-largest financial fraud in US history. He has tried 12 felony cases, including two of the three largest criminal accounting fraud cases ever prosecuted in New York. Mr. Owens has been named to the International Who's Who of Business Crime Defense Lawyers 2013.
Mr. Owens frequently speaks on securities law, corporate governance and criminal law matters. He has spoken at programs sponsored by the US Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center, the SEC, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association, PLI, ALI-ABA and the Institute of Government of the University of North Carolina.
David Rosenfeld, Esq.
David Rosenfeld is Associate Director of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As Associate Director, Mr. Rosenfeld is co-head of the Commission's Enforcement program in New York. He supervises a staff of attorneys and investigators in the investigation and prosecution of securities fraud, including cases involving accounting fraud, securities offering fraud, insider trading, the obligations of self-regulatory organizations and broker-dealer regulatory requirements. Mr. Rosenfeld has also taught securities law as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School. Prior to working at the Commission, Mr. Rosenfeld was in private practice at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. Mr. Rosenfeld also taught at the University of Virginia, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Raymond Randolph of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Rosenfeld graduated from Harvard Law School and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Steven Lofchie, Esq.
Steven Lofchie, a partner and Co-Chair of the Financial Services Group, concentrates his practice in advising financial institutions on regulatory issues and on derivatives and other financial instruments. He is consistently recognized in the United States by Chambers USA, Legal 500, and IFLR 1000 in the areas of financial services regulation and derivatives. The Best Lawyers in America also selected Steven as one of the nation's leading lawyers in several areas including: Administrative/Regulatory, Derivatives and Futures, Securities/Capital Markets, and Securities Regulation Law. He is the author of Lofchie’s Guide to Broker-Dealer Regulation (4th ed. 2011), considered the leading treatise in the field. In 2014, he testified before a subcommittee of the House on equity market structure.
Steven counsels funds (private and both SEC and CFTC-registered), broker-dealers, and banks regarding regulatory and transactional issues. His regulatory practice addresses virtually all the securities-law related statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to these institutions and their affiliates.
Steven represents many financial entities and their investment advisers on trading.
His transactional practice focuses on over-the-counter derivatives, securities financing, and trading agreements (from prime brokerage to the use of asset-backed structures for the financing of investments in hedge funds), and various types of licensing and membership agreements.
Steven is a frequent writer and speaker on financial regulation and policy. In 2014, he testified before a subcommittee of the House on equity market structure. In addition, he has been very active in developing web-based compliance tools, online compliance manuals, research tools and document analysis systems. These tools are available through the Cadwalader Cabinet (www.cadwalader.com/thecabinet).
Lyle Roberts, Esq.
Lyle Roberts is a partner in the Securities Litigation practice group and a member of the Litigation department. He joined the Firm in 2012 and is a resident of the Washington, DC office.
Mr. Roberts' practice focuses in the areas of securities litigation and regulation. He defends public corporations and individuals in class actions, derivative cases, mergers and acquisitions litigation, and Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") enforcement actions. He also conducts corporate internal investigations and counsels clients with respect to securities regulatory issues.
Mr. Roberts' recent representations include the successful defense of Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks) in an SEC insider trading case. In a widely publicized trial victory, Mr. Cuban was found not liable on all claims. Mr. Roberts also represents a number of prominent companies – including CenturyLink, Lumber Liquidators, and Fidelity National Financial – in the defense of private securities litigation. His notable past representations include appellate victories in the PEC Solutions, Cree, and Frontier Insurance securities class actions, leading to the complete dismissal of the claims in those cases.
Mr. Roberts is a writer and lecturer on securities litigation topics and is often quoted in the media. He is the author of The 10b-5 Daily, a blog devoted to news and analysis related to securities class actions. Mr. Roberts also is co-chairman of the annual Practicing Law Institute securities litigation program. He frequently submits amicus briefs in securities litigation cases on behalf of clients, including recent briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Washington Legal Foundation in the Halliburton case and SIMFA and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America in the Matrixx case. Mr. Roberts has been named a Washington, DC Super Lawyer for 2013 - 2015.
Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Roberts was a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf. He also led the East Coast securities litigation practice of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati during his tenure with that firm.
Mr. Roberts received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was on the Law Review. Following law school, he was a judicial clerk for Judge Donald S. Russell, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Catherine M. Foti, Esq.
Catherine M. Foti has more than twenty-five years of experience in complex civil and white collar criminal matters, including frauds, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and attorney disciplinary matters. She conducts internal investigations for corporations and also counsels individuals involved in such investigations. Cathy has been listed under Cambridge Who’s Who and has been recognized in the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar by Best Lawyers in America. She has also been listed in Thomson Reuters' Super Lawyers and named to its Top 50 Women list.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Women’s Bar Association, and has served as its Vice-President and as co-chair of its Judiciary and Professional Ethics and Discipline Committees. Cathy is a member of the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, previously served on the Board of Directors of NYCDL and is currently the chair of its Sentencing Guidelines Committee, which she recently represented before the United States Sentencing Commission when it heard testimony on proposed amendments to the Guidelines. Cathy is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, and the New York City Bar Association, where she sat on the Committee on Professional Discipline and on the Criminal Law Committee.
Cathy is a regular contributor to The Insider Blog on Forbes.com. In addition, Cathy was, for many years, a member of the Board of Editors for, and a contributor to, the Business Crimes Bulletin. She writes about and speaks on various topics, including corporate internal investigations, evidence issues, ethics, attorney disciplinary proceedings, and developments in employment discrimination matters.
Paul Murphy, Esq.
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey
Ronald H. Filler, Esq.
Ronald H. Filler is an expert in the area of financial services law. He joined the faculty in 2008 as a Professor of Law and the Director of the Financial Services Law Institute. He is also the Director of the LL.M. in Financial Services Law Graduate Program, which now offers more than 40 courses involving various aspects of the global financial services industry.
Professor Filler teaches several courses for both LL.M. and JD students including Derivatives Market Regulation; International Financial Services Law; Regulation of Broker-Dealers and Futures Commission Merchants; Financial Services Seminar and Workshop; and Regulatory Policy and Advanced Research Seminar. Professor Filler has also arranged for many NYLS students to serve as externs at some of the leading financial institutions and financial regulatory governmental agencies, giving them important first hand experiences regarding the practice of law in this highly complex area. He has taught several courses on derivatives law at three other U.S. law schools, the first such course was taught in 1977 at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. At Chicago-Kent, he was the Founder and Director of the Commodities Law Institute, which was the leading CLE provider on Futures Law between 1978 and 1995.
Before joining the NYLS faculty in the spring of 2008, Professor Filler was a Managing Director in the Capital Markets Prime Services Department at Lehman Brothers where he had principal responsibilities over a variety of business and regulatory matters. Before joining Lehman Brothers in 1993, he was a Partner and Member of the Executive Committee of Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz, a large Chicago-based law firm. He has spoken at several hundred conferences and seminars involving various financial regulatory issues, with a special emphasis on the Dodd Frank Act that was enacted by Congress in 2010 and its impact on the financial community and the public.
Professor Filler currently serves as an Independent Public Director of the National Futures Association, the industry’s self-regulatory organization, and of NYSE Liffe US, a futures exchange majority owned by the New York Stock Exchange. He serves on the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) at this exchange. At the NFA, he has chaired a Special Committee, which oversaw the audit practices and policies of NFA, which is the primary regulatory auditor of most financial institutions involved in derivatives, and serves on several other NFA committees. Professor Filler is also the Chair of the Global Markets Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. federal regulatory agency that oversees the derivatives markets. Throughout his 35+ years in the futures/derivatives area, he has served on several boards and advisory committees of U.S. exchanges and clearinghouses and other industry organizations.
Finally, Professor Filler has written extensively on several issues involving the financial services industry, with a special emphasis on customer asset protections.
Michelle Y. MacDougall
Michelle Y. MacDougall is a Director and Counsel at Société Générale and former Head of Legal, Americas for Newedge USA, LLC, which merged with and into SG Americas Securities LLC. Among other things, Michelle provides legal advice and support to the FCM business. She joined Fimat (a predecessor to Newedge) in September 2002. During this time, Michelle also spent two years in Singapore as Fimat’s Head of Legal, Asia-Pacific where she was
responsible for covering Australia, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), India, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Previously, she worked for Sutherland, a corporate law firm in Washington, D.C. Michelle received her LL.M. in Securities and Financial Regulation in 1999 from Georgetown University Law Center and her J.D. in 1998 from Syracuse University, College of Law. She received her B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from the George Washington University in 1995. Michelle is admitted to the bar in New York.
Stephen Obie, Esq.
Stephen Obie has sophisticated experience in all aspects of the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act.
Stephen held several top positions during his 15 years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including running the New York office. Moreover, during the financial crisis from July 2008 to September 2010, he was the Acting Director of the CFTC's Division of Enforcement and co-chaired the Securities and Commodities Subcommittee of the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force from 2009 to 2010. While at the CFTC, he was an advisor to senior management and presidential appointees on enforcement and policy matters; managed a heavy docket of investigations and litigations; and interacted frequently with federal authorities, self-regulatory organizations, and international regulators, including the Securities & Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, National Futures Association, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, CME Group, IntercontinentalExchange, and financial conduct/services authorities in Dubai, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Stephen's extensive experience includes investigating and litigating cases involving: false reporting of pricing benchmarks, including LIBOR; manipulation of electricity options; manipulation and false reporting in the natural gas market; foreign currency fraud; disruptive trading by an algorithmic trader; disclosure of confidential, material, and nonpublic information; and misuse of customer funds, segregation violations, and failure to supervise. His experience also includes knowledge of relevant CFTC required form filings and record retention requirements.
Stephen is a frequent panelist on legislative, regulatory, and enforcement developments in the commodities and derivatives markets and has been interviewed by leading newspapers and television programs.
Bruce Fekrat, Esq.
BRUCE B. FEKRAT is an Executive Director and Associate General Counsel at the CME Group. Mr. Fekrat works closely with the CME’s product development teams to offer new and support currently listed contracts and cleared-only products globally. Prior to joining the CME, Mr. Fekrat was a derivatives attorney at WilmerHale and also served in the Office of the Director, Division of Market Oversight at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for eight years.
Jeffrey Abramczyk
Jeffrey Abramczyk is Senior Vice President, Head of US Treasury and Markets Regulatory Compliance at HSBC. Over 25 years of leadership experience in auditing, risk management and compliance. He is currently focused on addressing the regulatory compliance requirements of financial institutions. His specialties include: Strategy, operational transformation, business improvement and risk mitigation; Finance, operations and technology; Auditing - Financial, operational and technology; Risk management - Compliance, credit, market, and operational risk; Broker Dealers - Investment banks, clearing and prime brokerage; Depositories and banks, investment advisers and hedge funds; Capital Markets - Equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, treasury and derivatives. He received a BBA and MBA from City University of new York – Baruch College-Zicklin School of Business.
John C. Kelly, Esq.
John Kelly is a partner in the Business Litigation Practice Group at McCarter & English. He regularly represents companies, institutions, municipalities and individuals with respect to all manner of securities matters, including independent investigations of alleged financial impropriety, financial reporting and accounting claims, claims relating to structured and complex financial products, defending regulatory actions and responding to regulatory
investigations, and counseling on regulatory compliance and reporting issues. John regularly represents broker-dealers, investment advisers and registered individuals in securities litigation, enforcement and compliance matters. He has extensive experience in the litigation, arbitration and mediation of securities matters throughout the country. During a time of increased governmental investigations, enforcement proceedings and disciplinary
actions, clients rely on John’s experience appearing before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), state regulatory agencies and various certification boards. He helps clients maintain compliance by educating them on the ever-changing regulatory landscape and advising them on internal regulatory audits, company policies and codes of ethics.
Andrew Melnick, Esq.
Andrew Melnick is Chief Litigation Counsel at RCS Capital Corporation (NYSE:RCAP), a full service investment firm whose family of companies delivers comprehensive and complementary financial services solutions designed to meet the needs of retail investors. RCS Capital includes a nationwide independent financial network of over 9,700 registered representatives, a wholesale distribution division and investment research, technology, investment banking and capital markets businesses. Mr. Melnick joined RCAP in June 2014 from Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP, where he was a partner concentrating on litigation and regulatory matters involving financial services firms. Mr. Melnick previously held multiple senior legal positions with UBS from 2003-2009, including serving as Senior
Counsel, Group Legal & Compliance Risk Assessment for UBS AG, and as Deputy General Counsel and Head of Private Client Litigation at UBS Financial Services, Inc., where he led a team of 16 lawyers responsible for all litigations and arbitrations arising from the business activities of the firm's nationwide retail branches. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Melnick practiced at Kaye Scholer LLP. Mr. Melnick was named a New York-Metro Super Lawyer for 2012 and 2013, and he has presented at numerous industry events and seminars in recent years. He received a B.A. from Hamilton College in 1985 and a J.D. cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1989, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review.
Jacob H. Zamansky, Esq.
Jacob ("Jake") H. Zamansky is one of the country's foremost authorities on securities litigation and arbitration. Zamansky LLC, the New York-based law firm he founded, represents both individuals and institutions in complex securities and class action cases. Mr. Zamansky was at the forefront of recent efforts to "clean up" Wall Street. In 2001, he successfully sued former Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget on behalf of a New York pediatrician misled by Blodget's stock research. The case's successful resolution was the catalyst for New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer to investigate the conflicts of interest on Wall Street and resulted in the well-reported $1.4 billion Global Settlement, which included many of the biggest names on Wall Street. More recently, Mr. Zamansky is one of the leading litigators and opinion leaders of the 2008-2009 financial and subprime mortgage crisis, representing both investors and mortgage borrowers who were defrauded by Wall Street firms and mortgage lenders.
Among Mr. Zamansky’s recent arbitration victories was his $2 million win against UBS for the fraudulent sale of Lehman Brothers structured products. He also has filed claims on behalf of individual investors victimized by brokers that steered their portfolios into unsuitable financial services stocks and inappropriate investment transactions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Zamansky worked for more than 30 years as a litigator, including positions at Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP. His tenure also included serving as a federal prosecutor with the Federal Trade Commission. A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Zamansky has been a frequent expert commentator on CNBC, CNN, and FOX News and has published opinion pieces in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and USA Today. He is regularly quoted and his cases have been chronicled in major financial and news publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Fortune and Forbes. He is a frequent lecturer
for industry and legal groups around the Country. He also writes a blog that can be viewed at www.zamansky.blogspot.com.
Jill Del Monico
Jill Del Monico is the leader of the Enterprise Litigation Team for Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM) business. In that role, she currently directs a team of attorneys and paralegals responsible for managing the majority of the Bank’s arbitrations and litigations arising across the country from Merrill Lynch’s retail brokerage, retirement services, and trust businesses. Prior to assuming this role in 2011, Ms. Del Monico had principal responsibility for managing investment related litigations and arbitrations in the New York and New England markets arising from Merrill Lynch’s wealth management business. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 2004, she practiced in the Securities Litigation and Regulatory Group at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, where she represented various clients, including Merrill Lynch, in complex commercial litigations, arbitrations, mediations and
regulatory investigations.
Matthew C. Plant, Esq.
Matt Plant focuses in securities litigation and regulatory law. He has appeared on behalf of corporate and institutional clients in federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey, and at arbitrations before various self-regulatory organizations. He also represents individual registered representatives and corporate clients in connection with self-regulatory organizations and state investigations and inquiries.
Over the past years, Matt has personally witnessed product failures that have resulted in complex litigation for his clients. These failures have included hedge funds and structured products, among other examples. Matt is highly adept in guiding his clients beyond such obstacles and in overcoming financial product specific litigation claims.
Because Matt understands how financial products and services are structured and managed, his ability to work with witnesses involved in litigation claims is highly developed, and frequently a competitive edge for his clients. Often in partnership with in-house counsel, Matt has worked with his clients to ensure that such matters are handled in a consistent fashion and as efficiently as possible, never losing sight of achieving a positive result.
Currently, Matt lives in Norwood, NJ with his wife, daughter and cocker spaniel. A sports enthusiast, he enjoys training for and competing in triathlons and playing golf.
Ellen Slipp, Esq.
Ellen Slipp is Managing Director and Head of Litigation for The Citi Private Bank. In that role she manages litigation globally including: securities litigation, employment law claims, internal investigations, ethics inquiries etc. Prior to January 2005, she spent 11 years at the Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank trying sales practice arbitrations, employment arbitrations and representing the company and individual employees in regulatory inquiries. Ellen speaks at many industry conferences in addition to SIFMA, 85 Broads and various PLI seminars. She currently sits on the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee of FINRA and is an industry arbitrator at FINRA. Before joining Citigroup, she was an Assistant District Attorney both at the Kings County District Attorney's Office and at the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in Manhattan. She graduated from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA and received her BA from Union College in Schenectady, NY.
Gordon Eng, Esq.
Gordon Eng is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of SKY Harbor Capital
Management, LLC. The Firm, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, is an independent SEC-registered
investment adviser focusing on broad high yield and short duration high yield strategies for institutional
investors and global wealth advisers. In addition to its separately managed account mandates and
management of private Delaware limited partnerships, the Firm sub-advises the Westwood Short
Duration High Yield Fund and the Westwood Opportunistic High Yield Fund, two mutual funds
established under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The Firm is also the Investment Manager for
SKY Harbor Global Funds, an open end investment company established in April 2012 under the laws of
Luxembourg (a UCITS SICAV) and registered for public distribution in a number of jurisdictions in the
EU, Norway, and Switzerland.
Before joining SKY Harbor Capital Management at its founding in August 2011, Mr. Eng was a
litigator associated with the law firms of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver &
Jacobson LLP where his practice focused on matters in white collar, internal investigations, and litigation
of complex financial instrument concerning derivatives, subprime structured finance products, and breach
of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”).
Mr. Eng began his career
in banking first as an international commercial lending officer and then as a foreign currency trader,
market-maker, chief dealer, and proprietary trader with a number of money center banks.
A graduate of Fordham University School of Law, Mr. Eng received his J.D. in 2005, magna
cum laude, and was elected to membership in the Order of the Coif. He received his M.B.A. from New
York University Stern School of Business with Distinction and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania, B.S. Economics. In 2003-2004, Mr. Eng was a student intern at the US
Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, criminal division. He is a recipient of the New
York Legal Aid Society 2010 Pro Bono Publico Award for his pro bono representation of indigent
defendants in arraignment proceedings, bail hearings, plea negotiations, and trial in Manhattan criminal
court. He has also appeared before the Supreme Court of New York Appellate Division Second
Department as a Special Assistant District Attorney, on behalf of the District Attorney of Kings County.
Mr. Eng is a member of the bars in New York and Connecticut and is also admitted to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern
Districts of New York.
His professional affiliations include the International Bar Association; American
Bar Association; New York State Bar Association (where he serves as a member of the House of
Delegates and the Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct); New York County Lawyers’
Association (a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee); and the Asian
American Bar Association of New York. As a faculty member of the Practising Law Institute (PLI), he
regularly speaks at PLI Continuing Legal Education programs for newly admitted attorneys on the
subjects of attorney ethics and financial regulatory reform concerning developments in Dodd Frank Act
and securities enforcement and litigation.
Linda Lerner, Esq.
Linda Lerner is a partner in the Corporate, Financial Services and White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement groups of Crowell & Moring’s New York office. She has extensive experience with regulatory and compliance issues relating to public and private sales of securities, advertising and sales material, market making, electronic trading, broker-dealer formation, operations and reporting requirements, SRO, new and continuing membership applications, ECN and ATS formation and operation, municipal advisor registration, and market structure issues.
Linda is a member of Nasdaq’s National Review Council and Market Operations Review Committee and served on FINRA’s e-Brokerage Committee. She is also chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Private Placement Broker-Dealers, for which she drafted regulations that were submitted to the SEC. Linda is the facilitator for the Midtown Regulatory Group, a group of over 600 senior compliance and legal officers from brokerage firms located throughout the U.S. that meets monthly to discuss regulatory issues. She is regularly a speaker on regulatory and compliance issues and most recently participated in the International Law Discovery and Disclosure Group Conference on Tax Havens, Money Laundering and Compliance Risks, “Preventing AML Breaches Through Effective Compliance;” SIFMA-CL Annual Compliance Conference, “Compliance Issues for Small and Regional Firms;” National Society of Compliance Professionals Annual Conference, “ABCs of Electronic Brokerage;” ALI-ABA Conference on FINRA/SEC Compliance and Enforcement, “Broker-Dealer and Investment Adviser Regulation of Hedge Funds;” and International Centre for Dispute Resolution, “Compliance Issues for Small and Regional Firms.”
Prior to joining Crowell in 2011, Linda spent seven years at Debevoise & Plimpton as broker-dealer regulatory counsel. Linda also served for 12 years as General Counsel at Domestic Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer, where she focused on a wide range of broker-dealer regulatory and compliance issues. During this time, she served on several NASD and Nasdaq committees, including the Membership Application Review Committee, the Market Operations Review Committee and the Trading Rules Subcommittee of the Quality of Markets Committee, and was a frequent lecturer on regulatory and market structure matters. Before joining Domestic Securities, she spent 15 years in private practice, working as an associate and a partner at New York law firms.
Linda received her J.D. magna cum laude, graduating first in her class from Brooklyn Law School, and was the Recent Decisions Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. She received her M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University and her B.A. from Brandeis University. She was admitted to the bar in New York in 1977 and is admitted to appear before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Linda serves, on a pro bono basis, as the General Counsel to the Financial Women’s Association of New York.