Overview

Maynard Nexsen offers a full array of legal services to a broad and diverse client base, including numerous Fortune 500 companies. The attorneys in Maynard Nexsen’s securities litigation practice offer extensive experience in all facets of securities litigation and regulatory matters. While Maynard Nexsen’s securities litigators primarily practice in Alabama, our litigation/arbitration work spans the country. The firm has handled thousands of securities arbitrations in more than 44 states across the U.S. and internationally over the past ten years, serving numerous broker-dealers, national insurance carriers, and financial services clients.

Our Team

We recognize that our ability to provide clients with the highest quality service in the local, national, and international marketplace is strengthened by a diverse pool of attorneys, among whom differences are accepted and valued. As a result, Maynard Nexsen’s securities litigation practice offers clients a diverse and seasoned team. We have been recognized as a Highly Recommended Firm by Benchmark Litigation and have been ranked in the top 50 of all law firms in BTI’s Litigation Outlook report. Our team regularly serves as panelists at national and regional securities conferences. Practice group leader Peter Fruin was named a Law360 Securities MVP in 2016—one of only five lawyers in the country to receive this recognition.

Our Value

Maynard Nexsen’s securities litigation team practices coast to coast with a unique value proposition. Even though members of our team litigate cases across the country and regularly practice onsite in the firm’s New York and California offices, most of the work is done from our Alabama offices. This unique cost structure offers clients a value alternative to higher-priced legal markets while delivering proven expertise and high-quality work.

Broker-Dealer Representation

The firm regularly represents broker-dealers in arbitrations before Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution panels and in state and federal courts across the country. We have been active in this space for almost 20 years. While Florida and California have somewhat unique licensing requirements for arbitration, several in our group are licensed in these jurisdictions. Over the past several years, we have had extensive experience analyzing and trying cases with complex issues involving diverse financial products, including:

  • Structured Products
  • Auction Rate Securities (public and private)
  • Exchange Traded Funds
  • Preferred Securities
  • Open-end and Closed-end Bond Funds
  • CDOs, CMOs and other asset-backed securities
  • Derivatives

We also have significant expertise in defending allegations involving alleged undisclosed conflicts of interest among the various departments within a financial company (e.g., research, investment banking, etc.), and we regularly handle the more typical customer disputes, including claims involving unsuitability, churning, unauthorized trading, and “selling away,” among others.

Complex Securities Litigation

Maynard Nexsen represents individual and corporate defendants in complex securities litigation involving claims and issues under the 1933 and 1934 Acts, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, and the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act. Representative securities class action cases include:

  • Lead counsel for Regions Financial Corporation and Morgan Asset Management, Inc. in several putative class actions, derivative actions and individual lawsuits that alleged several billion dollars in damages.
  • Lead counsel for 38 underwriters in nationwide class action involving the failure of Colonial Bank, [In re] Colonial BancGroup Inc. Securities Litigation, 2013 WL 4788627 (M.D. Ala. Sept. 9, 2013).
  • Lead counsel for four investment advisors in nationwide class action involving the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program.
  • Removal and dismissal under SLUSA of multiple nationwide class actions, one of which was appealed, fully briefed, and affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit.
  • After a six-week non-jury trial, dismissal in one of the few securities class actions ever tried in federal court in Tennessee.
  • Defended Section 10(b) class action against financial institution alleging misrepresentations in loan loss reserves and goodwill accounting.
  • Denial of class certification in a nationwide class action by customers against Morgan Keegan, alleging false statements by a research analyst.
  • Removal of three lawsuits filed against a major securities firm in Mississippi State Court on behalf of plaintiffs and “similarly situated persons,” which were subsequently transferred to an MDL proceeding and ultimately dismissed under SLUSA.
  • Defended and resolved numerous other securities class actions in which our firm represented underwriters, accounting firms, issuers, and/or officers and directors.
Regulatory Investigations and Proceedings

Our attorneys offer substantial experience and routinely defend individuals and firms in regulatory investigations and proceedings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA, the Alabama Securities Commission, and other state regulators. We value our good working relationships with the Alabama Attorney General, the Director and General Counsel of the Alabama Securities Commission, and the Enforcement Staff of the SEC in various regions.

Local Counsel Representation

The firm frequently acts as local counsel for a number of national law firms and in-house counsel in matters where expertise or experience is needed with Alabama courts or regulatory agencies. We are eager and qualified to work with primary counsel to fill whatever role is needed from Alabama local counsel. Our services as local counsel range from providing limited support to taking primary responsibility for the overall representation.

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