We use our extensive government experience, independent perspective, and skill as trial lawyers to obtain favorable results for our clients at every stage of a government securities investigation.  From the moment a client is first contacted by the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, PCAOB, or other federal or state regulator, our team leverages its experience to focus on the government’s core concerns and puts the government to its burden of proof, finding creative solutions and methods to drive the investigation to a swift resolution, and, when necessary, fighting all the way through trial and appeal.

Extensive Government Experience.  Quinn Emanuel’s Securities Enforcement Defense partners have over 30 years of experience at the SEC, including as senior leaders making final decisions at every stage of the SEC investigation and litigating cases on behalf of the SEC. We also draw from our deep bench of white-collar defense attorneys and former senior criminal prosecutors, along with the firm’s securities and private fund litigators.  As a result, we know how to help clients—including issuers, investment advisers, broker-dealers, private funds, directors, and senior executives—get the best results in the evolving SEC enforcement and regulatory landscape.  We know how to craft the most compelling narrative, while also maintaining credibility with regulators, and we have earned the right to be aggressive to advance our client’s interests.  We are not constrained by the “standard playbook”—we look for opportunities to do the unexpected, to challenge the regulator’s assumptions, to seize control of the narrative from day one, and to proactively address the issues.  We advocate for our clients’ interests, rather than simply react to the regulator’s demands.  We do not hesitate to escalate matters to senior supervisors and frequently draw on our hands-on understanding of the SEC’s internal mechanics and dynamics to our clients’ advantage.  We are able to nimbly navigate the legal and institutional challenges of parallel criminal and SEC investigations.  And when the investigation has an international component, Quinn Emanuel’s cross-border practice is unparalleled.  In particular, we have extensive experience defending investigations on behalf of China-based issuers and Canadian issuers, investment advisers, and private funds.  Our firm’s global reach allows us to capably handle foreign and domestic criminal and regulatory investigations.

Independent Perspective.  One of our greatest assets is our independence from the transactions and disclosure documents that frequently are at issue in government securities investigations.  We focus singularly on the matter at hand and zealously advocate for our clients without regard to our firm getting the next deal.  Likewise, because our firm did not draft the deal or disclosure documents likely at issue we are able to review relevant documents from the regulator’s perspective and to ask the hard questions about corporate counsel’s work to best avoid surprises and defend the client.  A client deserves a lawyer who, like the regulators investigating, has some distance from the relevant transactions and can make an objective, experienced judgment about the best strategy, witnesses, and approach to meet the client’s needs.  Further, our separation from the underlying issues affords us greater credibility before the government when advocating for the client because we are not seen as trying to defend our own work. 

Skill as Trial Lawyers.  Quinn Emanuel’s entry into an investigation sends an unmistakable message to the government: we will take this all the way if needed.  And, our trial focused approach enables us to get the most favorable result by focusing on the weaknesses of proof and ensuring the litigation record is as favorable as possible. Yet our experience and credibility with the government means we are often able to achieve favorable outcomes short of trial, including closing the investigation with no action by the government.

We have achieved favorable outcomes at every stage—informal inquiries, advocacy before agency decision-makers, and, of course, at trial.  This is one of the many reasons why securities market participants turn to us when they find themselves in the cross-hairs of federal and state regulators.

Examinations and Inspections.  We work with clients to navigate SEC, FINRA, and PCAOB examinations and inspections and provide seasoned advice on how to remediate issues uncovered during examinations, internal inspections, and audits.  Compliance issues often arise unexpectedly and are highly disruptive to a company; here, we are able to apply a softer approach, working with our clients to keep their house clean, never losing sight of the goal of resolving the issues efficiently and preventing them from progressing to an investigation. 

Stepping in Mid-Investigation.  We are able to hit the ground running when asked to step in during any phase of the investigation or litigation, and are frequently brought on in the middle or even towards the conclusion of an investigation to change the trajectory in our clients’ favor.  

Based on our extensive experience within the SEC, we also provide advice to best position our clients to avoid a government securities investigation in the first place.  We have a robust compliance and advisory practice, including with regard to insider trading compliance, investment adviser compliance, cryptocurrencies and digital asset regulation, ESG disclosures, whistleblower compliance, and AML/BSA compliance.  And, should a client self-identify a potential problem, but has not yet been contacted by the government, we reflect on our experience as senior government leaders who decided what investigations to open to advise clients on how to best position themselves for the most favorable outcome, including how to remediate the potential problem and whether to self-report to the government.

Our results speak for themselves.  We repeatedly have obtained declinations, in which the SEC staff has determined not to recommend that the Commission take any action, and have negotiated favorable resolutions for our clients.  We have successfully defended inquiries into financial and accounting fraud, violations of the Investment Advisers and Investment Company Acts, broker-dealer regulation, cybersecurity breaches, FCPA matters, and securities registration violations.  We also have extensive experience with cryptocurrency and digital assets-related investigations, insider trading and market manipulation cases, and a variety of other securities-related matters.