Why Nutter for Securities Enforcement Actions and Securities Litigation
The trial lawyers who lead our securities enforcement and securities litigation defense team have an unusual combination of professional experiences that enables them to serve our clients well.
Our team of senior advocates has significant trial experience and success in prosecuting securities law violations for the federal government, as trial lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and prosecutors for the Department of Justice. They came to Nutter with extensive courtroom experience and knowledge of how securities enforcement works from the inside. They understand how every step can influence the outcome of each case, and they know how to take control of a case to obtain the best possible outcome.
With the benefit of their experience, our lawyers have obtained positive outcomes for our clients in numerous government enforcement actions, and they have successfully litigated a wide variety of private securities actions as well.
The Nutter team is particularly adept at dealing with claims related to finance and wealth management and has regularly served several of the top 10 financial service firms in the world, as well as public and private companies; accounting, finance, and investment professionals; and corporate executives and directors.
These and other clients choose us for our ability to produce results and deliver value. We prepare a case for success with efficiency in our processes and leanness in our staffing.
We also commit significant partner level attention to each and every matter. Our partner to associate ratio also results in superior associate training and satisfaction (as ranked in nationwide surveys) which means that clients do not have a revolving door of associate lawyers assigned to their cases.
Our Team
The accomplishments of individual attorneys on Nutter’s securities enforcement and litigation team have been recognized by:
- The peer-reviewed “Best Lawyers in America”;
- Chambers USA in its “leaders in the field” publication;
- Boston Magazine in its publication of “Super Lawyers;” and
- The Boston Business Journal.
Our firm has also been listed among the ranked firms in general commercial litigation by the nationwide Chambers USA survey, and it has been listed in the nationwide review of Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” published by U.S. News & World Report for white collar defense work in particular.
Individuals on the team are regularly in demand to:
- Publish articles on various subjects related to securities law and government enforcement;
- Act as panelists and moderators for professional seminars on those subjects; and
- Furnish commentary to the electronic and print media regarding those subjects.
- The senior members of our securities enforcement and litigation team include:
Allison D. Burroughs, who was Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Massachusetts for 10 years, prosecuting white collar crime and overseeing the office’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property program. She also served as the Senior Litigation Counsel and received the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for superior performance three times. She has tried more than 20 cases to verdict.
Jonathan L. Kotlier served for twelve years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, during eight of which he was Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit. He worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts Division of Securities on securities fraud cases and has conducted internal investigations and represented numerous high level corporate officers in investigations by the SEC and Department of Justice. As a seasoned trial lawyer he has tried over 20 cases to verdict.
Ian D. Roffman, who served for seven years in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, rising to the position of Senior Trial Counsel in the Boston Office. While at the SEC, he led dozens of high-profile investigations and enforcement actions involving public company disclosures, mutual funds, investment advisors, broker-dealers and insider trading, and he received the Enforcement Director’s Award and the Chairman’s Award for Excellence.
Who We Represent
Nutter represents a broad spectrum of businesses and individuals, including:
- Witnesses, targets and defendants in government enforcement actions;
- Companies based in the U.S. and elsewhere that are publicly held;
- Privately held entities;
- Officers, directors, general counsel and management level employees;
- Broker-dealers and investment advisers;
- Professional service firms, such as accounting firms; and
- Governmental departments and agencies.
Our clients are drawn from a range of industries including:
- Financial services;
- Biotechnology and life sciences;
- Computer hardware and software;
- Pharmaceuticals;
- Medical devices and instrumentation;
- Energy and utility services;
- Health care;
- Automotive;
- Manufacturing;
- National defense;
- Professional services, such as accounting;
- Real estate and construction; and
- Retail.
What We Do
- Our securities enforcement and litigation team provides counseling, compliance advice, and advocacy in connection with:
- Investigations by regulators and government prosecutors;
- Enforcement proceedings brought by regulators and prosecutors;
- Internal investigations for companies, audit committees, special board committees, general counsel or compliance officers;
- White collar criminal defense for individuals accused of legal misconduct;
- Defense of securities class actions and derivative claims; and
- Private securities litigation, including shareholder merger litigation, and litigation related to disputes with minority shareholders.
Nutter has repeatedly handled, among other things, disputes involving allegations related to:
- Federal securities laws;
- State securities laws;
- Breach of fiduciary duty;
- Broker-dealer compliance;
- Business valuations;
- Disclosure issues;
- Insider trading;
- Investment adviser fraud or abuse;
- Market timing;
- Offering fraud;
- Options backdating; and
- Revenue recognition and accounting issues.