Ted Krebsbach: We live in an age of regulation. The best people out there in the financial services field are at risk of having an investigation or an inquiry that could change the whole course of their professional life overnight. I've never seen the type of regulation and extense of the regulation that we have now. We take great pride in taking people who were being accused of wrongdoing and making sure we're protecting them.
Michael Rella: Our clients, for the most part, tend to be financial institutions, market makers, broker dealers, RIA firms, hedge funds, private equity shops, so on and so forth. In these litigation matters, we represent them in a wide variety of disputes. So, anything from data privacy breach issues to complex commercial litigation matters to allegations from investors that our clients breached the federal securities laws to mortgage back securities related matters.
Paul Merolla: The securities regulation is a very dynamic discipline, and it is changing all the time, all with the view of protecting investors and maintaining the integrity of the securities markets. Our job as a law firm is to stay abreast of those changes and advise our clients, accordingly.
Len Amoruso: Its ever growing list of regulatory requirements requires firms to not only read and digest these complex rules, but it requires them to develop procedures and controls designed to enforce these rules internally, along with periodic checks and reviews. And if this is not daunting enough, firms continue to face the real specter everyday of regulatory investigations, enforcement action, civil litigation and even criminal prosecution. These types of actions can result in judgments that result in millions of dollars of fines and penalties, not to mention the fallout and repercussions that can stem from criminal prosecutions.
Ted Krebsbach: I had created my own firm about 20 years ago called Krebsbach & Snyder, and our entire firm joined up with Murphy & McGonigle in 2012.
Sharon O'Shaughnessy: I was drawn to Murphy and McGonigal because the culture here is truly unique. Tone trickles from the top down, and James Murphy and Tom McGonigle have worked very hard to cultivate an atmosphere that is free from office politics. So we can all concentrate on what really matters and what we need to do, which is providing the best legal services that we can to our clients. When you look at our roster, we have attorneys who served in very senior positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and FINRA. That inside knowledge that our attorneys have who have served a regulatory agencies is so beneficial to our clients who face regulatory enquiries.
Ted Krebsbach: We're able to look at issues from our client's perspective and really give excellent client service, which is what it's all about. It's a rapidly changing world. Things that, you know, I might have thought were important five years ago. You don't hear about as much now. The products constantly change; the issues constantly change. One of the big changes we see is in the area of technology, and this firm seems very well positioned, and we know is very focused on that issue.
Len Amoruso: So in short, we're able to blend together unmatched regulatory experience with the very practical experience of seasoned, in-house attorneys so that we're able to provide truly actionable advice to clients, advice that they are able to effectively implement in a real world setting and synthesize into their control structure in a very cost effective way.