Practice Areas & Industries: Carlton Fields, P.A.

Practice Group Overview

Plummeting stock prices and a string of high-profile corporate bankruptcies have opened corporate America to a wave of lawsuits, investigations, and civil and criminal enforcement proceedings.

Claims of mismanagement, misconduct, funds diversion, money laundering, fraud, self-dealing, breach of fiduciary duties, conflicts of interest, and others regularly seize headlines and divert valuable attention. Meanwhile, Congress and state legislatures are passing tough new laws governing corporate conduct -- and stiff penalties for failure to comply. Carlton Fields is one of the premier securities litigation firms in the Southeastern United States. We are skilled, aggressive, and effective litigators who regularly handle individual and class action claims brought under every major securities and investment act since the Securities Act of 1933. Moreover, attorneys in our Corporate Securities & Taxation Practice Group bring their substantial experience and knowledge to important issues that arise during litigation. In every case, we are committed to bringing matters to a prompt and successful end - so our clients can get back to business.

Practice Overview

Our Securities and Derivative Litigation Practice Group handles state and federal securities class action litigation, shareholder suits, arbitrations, civil and criminal enforcement proceedings, director and officer litigation, and investigations for broker-dealers, bank-brokerage affiliations, securities brokers, accounting firms, registered investment companies, directors and officers, and others. We have experience in litigating class action and individual claims brought under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, state securities laws and registration laws, a variety of related federal and state statutes and doctrines, and state common law.

We have substantial experience representing public companies and their directors and officers in federal securities litigation and related proceedings in Florida and elsewhere. We are approved securities litigation counsel for directors and officers liability insurance policies issued by AIG/National Union, and we have an established track record of working cooperatively with these insurers in the defense of securities claims.

We are also approved by AIG/National Union as counsel for financial institutions claims, including securities arbitration proceedings before the NASD and NYSE. We have defended many such proceedings on behalf of insured broker-dealers and their associated persons.

Creative Solutions

Securities class actions are often boilerplate descriptions of how disappointed investors would like to characterize their market losses. We have helped our clients demonstrate the truth of the matter, leading to favorable dispositions of these cases by judgment or settlement on reasonable terms.

Although past results are not indicative of future outcomes, we have obtained outright dismissals of class action claims, denial of class certification in a number of high-stakes securities cases, and relatively low settlements as a percentage of total losses claimed. We endeavor whenever possible to obtain early resolution of cases that can be disruptive, costly, and unsettling to investors, directors, and business partners. We believe that we have been able to assist our clients in achieving success in litigation by working hard to find creative solutions to seemingly daunting problems.

Resources

The Securities and Derivative Litigation Practice Group draws on the firm's extensive resources in Corporate, Securities, Tax, Appellate and Trial Support, and other transactional and litigation disciplines. In addition, the group is at the cutting edge on emerging issues concerning the preservation, production, and discovery of electronic information through the firm's E-Discovery Task Force, which participates actively in national forums and opinion-shaping programs in this area.

Practice Group Members

Our practice group members are recognized leaders in international, national, and state professional and bar organizations and honorary societies, and they speak and publish around the country in the area of securities litigation, class action defense, and courtroom advocacy. Our Practice Group includes practitioners with extensive experience at the SEC in enforcement and trial, CPA training, and federal and state trial and appellate experience.

Services Available

Carlton Fields has a full-service securities transactions practice, representing clients in mergers and acquisitions, business organizations, corporate finance matters, and compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), state securities commissioners, and other regulatory bodies. We represent issuers of common and preferred stock, debt instruments (secured and unsecured), limited partnership interests, and other investments in both private placement and public offerings.

Our lawyers handle initial and secondary public offerings from both the issuer's and the underwriter's perspective. This requires extensive knowledge of SEC regulations, blue sky laws, and stock exchange and NASD rules.

Following the public offering of securities, we also help our public company clients comply with continuing reporting and disclosure obligations under applicable securities laws and the rules of the applicable stock exchange or NASDAQ.

Carlton Fields also represents businesses in all aspects of mergers and acquisitions transactions, exchange offers, tender offers, takeovers, and sales of stocks and assets.