Financial Services

Overview

Today's financial services industry is an arena of high-stakes and vigorous regulation.

Since the financial crisis of 2009, the many trillions of dollars at risk have attracted investors of every stripe, as well as intense scrutiny from not only government regulators and enforcement agencies but also shareholders, media, and the public at large. For most organizations, compliance obligations now extend to all areas of the business, with particular emphasis on workforce matters and transactions.

Epstein Becker Green helps financial services companies, both domestic and international, navigate the ever-changing economic and regulatory landscape. Some come to us for our depth of experience in all manner of workforce issues. Others count on us to handle the regulatory components of transactions, especially in the health care and life sciences sectors.

Our Clients

Our roster of financial services clients runs the gamut from small venture capital funds to major global banks. For example, our attorneys routinely advise and represent the following clients:

Asset managers and pension fund fiduciaries
Broker-dealers
Commercial banks
Corporate borrowers and issuers of securities
Insurance carriers
International investment banks
Investment banks
Multiline insurance carriers and offshore reinsurers
Non-bank commercial lenders
Private equity and venture capital funds
Regional savings banks

Workforce Issues

In a field known for high compensation and creative employment contracts, our financial services clients turn to us for sophisticated advice in the day-to-day challenges of hiring, incentivizing, and managing their workforces.

Beyond simply interpreting the ever-changing labor and employment laws, we advise clients on their options, show them what other companies are doing, provide benchmarks, and generally think ahead about the business implications of their decisions. Our lawyers help them establish robust employment policies that are fully compliant yet tailored to their operations and business objectives.

We advise clients on matters of benefits and compensation, train their people in harassment and discrimination avoidance, and help them lawfully expand employee diversity at all levels of the organization. Financial services clients rely on us to represent them when the employment relationship becomes adverse, particularly when navigating mandatory arbitration at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Wage and hour disputes and claims based on compensation, misappropriation, non-competition, discrimination, and retaliation, whether in class actions or high-pressure arbitration, are litigated proactively and in partnership with in-house counsel.

Health Care Transactions

Long known for our broad knowledge and deep experience in the health care and life sciences space, we regularly assist our financial services clients when they are underwriting the debt and equity securities of, or lending to, health care and life sciences entities. Our attorneys also represent private equity funds and venture capitalists in acquisitions and divestitures of regulated and non-regulated health care companies. We take a multidisciplinary approach to deal representation, with services that include corporate and regulatory due diligence, negotiation and drafting of disclosure and financing documents, and advice on the regulatory environment as it affects current and future deals.

Financial Services Disputes

Financial services clients, their professionals, directors, and officers turn to us to represent them in investigations, at trial, and before FINRA and the American Arbitration Association. Our litigators have achieved positive results in high-stakes commercial and business disputes spanning breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, customer complaints, executive compensation, fraud, and securities actions. We also help financial services clients protect their intellectual property and sensitive data in employee mobility actions involving restrictive covenants, misappropriation of confidential information, and trade secrets.

Read less