Welcome to the latest issue of Bracewell’s FINRA Facts and Trends, a monthly newsletter devoted to condensing and digesting recent FINRA developments in the areas of enforcement, regulation and dispute resolution. This month,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house enforcement proceedings violate the Constitution, teeing up a decision that could curtail securities law enforcement and...more
A DC Circuit Court of Appeals challenge to a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) enforcement action brings into question whether FINRA should be held accountable to constitutional restrictions on state...more
This alert addresses proceedings in two SEC securities enforcement actions emanating out of the Fifth Circuit. Both pose issues relating to the SEC’s power to bring enforcement proceedings in front of in-house administrative...more
Key Takeaways - ..The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear cases that may curtail the administrative powers of the SEC. ..These rulings may portend greater limits on federal administrative agencies generally....more
Two recent decisions have put the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house administrative proceedings in the crosshairs. First, on May 16, 2022, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Administrative Law...more
On April 22, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Carr v. Saul, a case with interesting parallels to Arthrex, which deals with appointments clause challenges to the PTAB judges and which will be decided later this Term. In Carr,...more
On Oct. 30, 2020, the Fifth Circuit agreed to rehear en banc a case challenging the constitutionality of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administrative proceedings on the ground that the agency “is violating...more
On September 17, 2020, Stephanie Avakian, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, spoke at the Institute for Law and Economics, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Virtual Program. Ms. Avakian used her time to...more
We are pleased to present our annual year-end update on financial reporting and issuer disclosure enforcement activity for 2019. This White Paper focuses on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") enforcement...more
The Enforcement Division (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission released its Annual Report on November 6, 2019, summarizing the year’s enforcement activity. It was a record-setting year for the Division due to...more
WeWork is reportedly looking to swap out co-founder Adam Neumann for a similarly long-tressed and eccentric figure, T-Mobile’s John Legere. Legere is currently quite occupied with his company’s merger with Sprint, and his...more
Junaid A. Zubairi, Chair of Vedder Price’s Government Enforcement and Special Investigations group, served as co-chair of the 2019 ALI-CLE Accountants’ Liability program on October 17 and 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. The...more
The SEC, in conjunction with the Colorado Bar Association and Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, recently sponsored the 51st Annual Rocky Mountain Securities Conference featuring SEC officials and corporate...more
On January 29, 2019, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or “Board”) adopted amendments to its bylaws and rules that make the PCAOB’s appointment and removal of its hearing officers subject to the approval of...more
My partner, Ken Berg, writes about his recent meeting with the NCLA, a group that anyone who has an administrative practice should be familiar with. – Alan I had the privilege of being invited to attend in Washington,...more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between September 2018 and October 2018. ...more
After much anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)....more
This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between May 2018 and August 2018.... US Supreme Court - Supreme Court Holds That SEC Administrative Law Judges...more
On August 22, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it will rehear over fifty cases pending before administrative law judges (“ALJs”) that were stayed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision...more
A lot of the furor over Elon Musk’s recent “going private” tweets has centered on whether he actually had the financial backing needed to pull it off. The Times sets aside that initial inquiry to explore the why and how,...more
The new executive order (EO) granting agency chiefs the power to hire administrative law judges (ALJs) according to their own standards—and eliminating the exam and competitive hiring process formerly in place—could turn the...more
After the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Jones Brothers, Inc. v. Sec’y of Labor, citations upheld by administrative law judges within the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (“FMSHRC”) may be...more
In one of its last opinions of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lucia v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 21, 2018, that administrative law judges (ALJs) are officers of the United States, not...more
Is the appointment of PTAB administrative patent judges (APJs) constitutional? The patent bar is asking in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Lucia v. SEC....more