Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw Adds Leading Securities Regulation and Enforcement Group
| News Release - Corporate & Securities, Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement, Investment Management, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Americas
| 25 July 2005 - One of the country's leading securities regulation and enforcement groups has joined Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP. The nine partners, from Crowell & Moring LLP, include former high-ranking SEC and NASD Enforcement officials and federal prosecutors with broad experience defending corporate and financial services clients in a full range of investigations and actions by the SEC, the NYSE, the NASD, the Justice Department and the New York Attorney General. The group also includes a preeminent investment management practice, including a former Director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management.
"Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's international platform and world class banking and finance practice are the primary draws," explained Richard Morvillo, who is joined by fellow partners Bruce Bettigole, Joseph Goldstein, and Peter White on the securities enforcement, litigation and white collar defense team.
"This is a natural fit for us," added Mr. Goldstein, a former Associate Director in the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "Mayer Brown offers an impressive group of securities, class action and white collar defense litigators, plus probably the strongest appellate practice in the country."
"We look forward to joining Mayer Brown and with its help, meeting the increasingly complex needs of financial service providers," noted Mr. Conti.
Kathryn B. McGrath, Stephanie M. Monaco, and Elizabeth M. Knoblock, who form the nucleus of one of the country's premier investment management practices, will join Mayer Brown's corporate, investment management and financial services regulatory practices. Ms. McGrath, a former Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC, observed, "Mayer Brown has diversified asset management, banking, financial regulatory, and corporate and securities practice areas, and a network of offices in major money centers in the United States and Europe. This will enable us to continue to serve our clients well and add our talents to Mayer Brown's outstanding team of investment management lawyers."
"This exceptional team has a combined 63 years of experience at the SEC alone," said Kenneth Geller, partner-in-charge of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Washington, D.C. office. "They are recognized as among the elite in defending corporate and financial clients in complex civil and criminal securities litigation, and advising broker-dealers, investment banks, investment advisers and asset managers on a wide range of securities compliance, regulatory and corporate governance issues." On the enforcement front, these lawyers have been at the forefront of virtually every significant issue affecting Wall Street and Corporate America, including civil and criminal matters related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Regulation FD, mutual fund trading, IPO allocations, best execution, NYSE specialist and OTC market making activities, municipal securities reform, in addition to numerous cases involving allegations of financial fraud, accounting irregularities, and insider trading.
"This addition to our market-leading investment management group is also going to complement Mayer Brown's practices in pension investments, private equity funds, real estate funds and CDOs/CBOs," observed Jim Carlson, a Corporate Practice leader in Mayer Brown's New York office. "It provides us with one of the largest, broad-based asset management practices serving the U.S. and global markets." The group will operate out of Mayer Brown's Washington, D.C. and New York offices.
With the addition, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP will now offer nearly 100 lawyers engaged in securities and corporate governance litigation, enforcement, compliance and white collar defense work. Already among the 10 largest law firms in the world, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw has 1,300 lawyers in seven U.S. (Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, and Washington, D.C.) and six European (Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, and Paris) cities.
Attorney Profiles
New Members of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Litigation Practice
Pat S. Conti
Mr. Conti was Chair of Crowell & Moring LLP's Securities Regulation and Enforcement Group. He advises broker-dealers and other financial service providers on compliance with federal and state securities laws and rules of the various self-regulatory organizations (SROs) and represents those clients in SEC and SRO investigations and related enforcement proceedings. He has represented clients in SEC, NYSE, NASD, state securities and criminal grand jury investigations of retail and institutional sales practices, municipal securities activities, equity and fixed income trading, compliance and related supervisory matters. Mr. Conti served six years with the SEC's Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. as Senior Counsel and Branch Chief, where he was responsible for a broad range of significant enforcement matters, including the SEC's landmark limited partnership case against Prudential Securities Inc.
Joseph I. Goldstein
Mr. Goldstein was formerly Associate Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, as well as Chairman of the Penny Stock Task Force and a member of the Justice Department's National Bank Fraud and Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Groups. Previously, Mr. Goldstein served as Executive Assistant to Chairman Shad, having previously served as Assistant Director and Branch Chief in the Division of Enforcement.
Richard J. Morvillo
Mr. Morvillo previously served as Branch Chief with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement. He was recently named one of Washington D.C.'s "Top 10 Securities Lawyers" in a survey by Legal Times and one of Washington D.C.'s "Top Lawyers" by Washingtonian Magazine. He has handled many SEC, NYSE, NASD and grand jury investigations on behalf of corporations, corporate executives, brokerage firms, investment advisors, accountants, lawyers and individual investors. He has successfully litigated several SEC enforcement cases to judgment.
Peter White
Mr. White was Co-Chair of Crowell & Moring LLP's Government Investigations and Litigation Team. His practice focuses mainly on white collar criminal defense, related civil and appellate litigation, internal corporate investigations, and development of corporate compliance programs. He was Former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia for over seven years, prosecuting a broad range of criminal matters and serving as lead trial counsel in over 80 jury trials, including several high profile cases. Mr. White has extensive experience representing Fortune 500 corporations and was recently named one of the Washington, D.C. area's top lawyers in Criminal Defense by Washingtonian Magazine.
New Members of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw's Corporate Practice
Kathryn B. McGrath
Ms. McGrath was with the SEC for over 16 years where she served as Director of the Division of Investment Management; Associate Director of the SEC's Division of Market Regulation, where she headed the Division's Office of Self- Regulatory Oversight; Assistant and then Associate General Counsel; Assistant Director of the Division of Corporate Finance; Special Counsel and then Executive Assistant to SEC Chairman Ray Garrett, Jr. and Roderick M. Hills; Legal Assistant to Commissioner Philip Loomis; and staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel. She concentrates on representing mutual funds, investment managers, broker-dealers and other providers of financial services and products.
Stephanie M. Monaco
Ms. Monaco focuses on investment company and investment adviser regulation and compliance with the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and related laws. She served in the Chief Counsel's office of the SEC's Division of Investment Management from February 1983 until June 1986, when she entered private practice. In November 1988, she returned to the Division of Investment Management as a Branch Chief in the Office of Investment Company Regulation, the office responsible for evaluating applications for exemptive relief from the two 1940 Acts. From March 1990 until July 1991, she was Acting Assistant Director of that office.
Elizabeth M. Knoblock
Ms. Knoblock focuses her practice on the federal, state and international laws governing the investment management of mutual funds and private accounts, including institutional, retail and wrap fee clientele. In addition to private practice, she served as counsel in the Division of Investment Management of the SEC; and the Office of the General Counsel of the CFTC as well as inside counsel to various financial services firms, including 10 years as General Counsel and Senior Vice President with Templeton Investment Counsel, Inc., a member of the Franklin Templeton Group. She is a well-recognized public speaker and published author on various issues arising under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Investment Company Act of 1940.
For additional information, contact:
Sheila Turner
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP
202 263 3347
sturner@mayerbrownrowe.com
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