Jonathan J. Brennan

Jon is a Shareholder in Maynard Cooper’s Securities Litigation Practice Group. With over 20 years of experience, Jon has extensive experience in wealth management and securities litigation, as well as complex commercial litigation. He focuses his practice on matters of importance to retail broker-dealers with an emphasis on FINRA arbitrations, civil litigation, and pre-litigation dispute resolution. Jon also has experience handling or managing fiduciary and private banking litigation, capital markets matters, and ERISA class actions.

He has represented commercial businesses in regulatory investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Internal Revenue Service.

Prior to joining Maynard Cooper, Jon was a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at Bank of America where he was head of wealth management litigation. Jon began his legal career at Sidley Austin LLP in New York, and he also founded and ran a boutique litigation firm for a period of time.

Wealth Management Litigation

• Supervised thousands of customer arbitrations involving claims of suitability, overconcentration, churning, unauthorized trading, fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Managed significant Credit Crisis product litigation arising from the sale of auction rate securities, collateralized debt obligations, and asset-backed commercial paper to retail and middle-market clients. Matters included multiple class actions, individual state and federal civil litigations, and over 100 FINRA arbitrations.
• Extensive experience with arbitration-related litigation including motions to compel arbitration, motions to confirm arbitration awards, and expungement matters.

Fiduciary and Private Banking Litigation

• Supervised client litigation in probate, state, and federal courts often involving the exercise of national banking association’s fiduciary powers. Significant cases included alleged overconcentration of inherited securities, purported mismanagement of trust assets, lost trust records, disputes over fiduciary administration, lender liability, and losses due to third-party fraud.

Capital Markets Litigation

• Supervised the successful resolution of a $2.6 billion litigation arising from the criminal embezzlement scheme of a Florida-based mortgage originator.
• Represented a large broker-dealer in a two-week federal jury trial involving claims alleging improper margin call and liquidation of a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.

ERISA / Retirement Class Actions

• Supervised defense of putative ERISA and antitrust class action alleging a broker-dealer’s institutional retirement business improperly limited a plan’s investment options and engaged in improper revenue sharing. Client prevailed on a motion to dismiss.

Non-Party Litigation

• Supervised team responsible for processing all subpoenas, garnishments, and levies directed to Bank of America’s wealth management businesses.
• Represented an art gallery owner in a significant non-party subpoena related to a painting seized at the beginning of World War II.

Regulatory

• Produced documents, prepared witnesses, and defended current and former employees in regulatory interviews and testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Internal Revenue Service.

• American Bar Association
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• New York City Bar Association
• Arbitration Committee, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2016 – 2018)
• Litigation Advisory Committee, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2014 –2018)

• Panelist, Mission Critical: The Role of the General Counsel in Managing Corporate Relations and Public Opinion, Thomson Reuters 2nd Annual Corporate Counsel Leadership Forum, New York, NY, November 16, 2016.
• Panelist, Arbitration: Practical Considerations, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Compliance & Legal Annual Seminar, Phoenix, AZ, March 16, 2015.
• Presenter, Liability of Legal Officers in the Securities Industry, Mecklenburg County Bar Association 14th Annual Banking and Finance Forum, Charlotte, NC, November 21, 2014.
• Presenter, Financial Services: 25 Years of ADR in the Brokerage Industry, 1st Annual Alternative Dispute Resolution ExecuSummit, Uncasville, CT, June 12, 2013.
• Panelist, Defining Fairness and Consumer Arbitration: A Report from the Future, 1st Annual Alternative Dispute Resolution ExecuSummit, Uncasville, CT, June 11, 2013.