The Securities & Investments practice of The Spencer Law Firm encompasses all aspects of the securities business – investors, issuers/promoters, broker-dealers, and brokers/financial advisors.

In general terms, a security is an agreement or contract between an investor (an individual, a group, or an institution) and an issuer (a corporation or a governmental entity).  Issuers create and issue securities in order to raise money or finance their operations.  Common types of securities include stocks, bonds, promissory notes, certificates of interest, and participations in an oil, gas, or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, although what is or is not a security often requires a complex analysis of all the facts and circumstances of a given situation.

 

Investors. The Spencer Law Firm utilizes its experience with the securities laws and regulations to represent investors in claims against the issuer of a security, the promoter of a security that induced the investor to purchase the security, the broker who recommended certain activity in connection with a security or who managed an investor’s security account, and the broker-dealers who employ and are responsible for supervising the investor’s broker.

 

Issuers/Promoters. The Spencer Law Firm utilizes its experience with the securities laws and regulations to prepare, and advise issuers in connection with, offering documents (e.g., offering memoranda and circulars, prospectuses, subscriptions agreements, etc.), to defend issuers in connection with regulatory investigations into security offerings, and to defend issuers from claims asserted by investors.

 

Broker/Dealers. The Spencer Law Firm utilizes its experience with the securities laws and regulations to defend broker-dealers from customer claims generally based on supervision and compliance issues.

 

Brokers/Financial Advisors. The Spencer Law Firm utilizes its experience with the securities laws and regulations to defend brokers/financial advisors from customer claims of unsuitability, churning, breach of fiduciary duty, and the like.  Additionally, The Spencer Law Firm frequently represents brokers/financial advisors in claims by or against prior employers associated with employee forgivable loans (“EFLs”) and suits seeking the recovery of training costs.

 

The Spencer Law Firm also represents franchisors …

 

The Securities & Investments disputes play out in a number of different venues (i.e., federal court, state court, and arbitration), and the attorneys of The Spencer Law Firm have experience in all of them.  The Spencer Law Firm currently represents a class of plaintiffs against UBS, one of the world’s largest integrated investment bank, commercial bank, and securities and wealth management firm, concerning their losses in Enron securities.