“Peter and Julie both bring significant talents to this position and will be great leaders of our Securities Litigation practice; frankly, each of them has already been serving as leaders in this practice area and this announcement just formalizes their role,” said Mark Drew, Maynard Cooper Managing Shareholder.

Maynard Cooper’s Securities Litigation practice was ranked in the top 50 of all law firms in the 2013 BTI Litigation Outlook report. The attorneys in this practice have extensive experience in all facets of securities litigation and regulatory matters. The firm has handled thousands of securities arbitrations in more than 48 states and internationally during the past 10 years for numerous broker-dealer clients.

Peter S. Fruin represents commercial businesses in financial litigation as well as other entities in employment, product liability and education-related litigation. His representation includes individual cases in state and federal courts, FINRA and AAA arbitrations, and he also has significant experience in representing companies in state or nationwide class actions. The largest concentration of his work has been representing brokerage houses in litigation brought by their customers, employees or competitors. Fruin is licensed to practice in Alabama, California, Florida, and Texas.

Julie Portera represents brokerage firms and other financial institutions against claims asserted by customers and former employees in state and federal court and in FINRA arbitration proceedings throughout the country. She also represents financial institutions and registered representatives in connection with regulatory investigations initiated by FINRA and state securities regulators. Portera is licensed to practice in Alabama, Florida and New York, and a large part of her practice is devoted to arbitration and court proceedings in the state of Florida.