Defense Digest

On the Pulse...Securities and Investment Practice Group

Our firm's Securities and Investment Practice Group serves a broad client base, including Registered Representatives, Registered Investment Advisors, Certified Financial Planners, broker/dealers, and insurance agents and brokers. The practice group represents a wide array of business entities and individuals such as wirehouses, numerous investment advisors, and regional and small, independent broker/dealers. We represent self-insured and insured clients, and our group members frequently collaborate with their clients on risk assessment and early evaluation of potential problems. We are also involved in fiduciary liability matters, corporate directors and officers, and employment practices liability matters. We represent professionals and entities in state and federal courts, before self-regulatory organizations (SROs) such as the NASD, New York Stock Exchange, state agencies, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. We handle arbitration cases before the NASD, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the American Arbitration Association, as well as non-litigation matters like customer complaints, regulatory inquiries, and regulatory investigations. We handle NASD matters in many regions within the United States and have litigated claims involving restrictive covenants, trade secrets, unfair competition, raiding, and various recruiting issues. Members of our Securities and Investment Group are located throughout many of the firm's seventeen offices.

The group’s attorneys in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania office include Andrew Davitt, Denis Dice, Gerard Kowalski, Jeffrey Chomko, Samuel Cohen, and Joel Wertman. They dedicate 100% of their practice time to securities, investment, and insurance matters. Other attorneys in the Philadelphia office, including Jay Rothman, Craig Hudson and others, work with Mr. Davitt and his group.

Andrew Davitt is a shareholder and chairs the group. He is licensed as a Series 7 and Series 63 Registered Representative and an insurance agent in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and he is a licensed real estate agent in Pennsylvania. He was also licensed as an affiliated Registered Investment Advisor. In addition to handling cases and managing the group, he lectures for various broker/dealers on risk management and other pertinent compliance issues and has authored articles on securities, investment, and insurance agent-related matters. He serves as a NASD securities arbitrator and has served as a securities arbitrator for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the American Arbitration Association. Mr. Davitt is member of the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and District of Columbia Bars, the Financial Planning Association (FPA), PLUS, National Association of Independent Broker Dealers, SEC Historical Society, and National Society of Compliance Professionals. Mr. Davitt is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Tri-State Area Chapter of the Financial Planning Association and serves as the Board's outside corporate counsel. Mr. Davitt has achieved the highest rating, "A V", with Martindale-Hubbell, Inc.

Denis Dice is also a shareholder with the firm. He has been a speaker on topics involving securities litigation/arbitration matters. Mr. Dice is an arbitrator for the NASD and is "A V" rated by Martindale-Hubbell. His background also includes active duty in the United States Marine Corps, Judge Advocate General Corps, where he served as a Captain at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. While a member of the Marine Corps JAG, he tried numerous major jury and misdemeanor criminal cases while serving as a trial counsel. Mr. Dice also holds a LL.M. in Taxation from Villanova University Graduate Tax Program. His studies concentrated in tax planning related to investments, qualified retirement and other employee benefit plans (ERISA), estate planning, federal wealth transfer, taxation, and tax planning for closely held business. His practice also includes the defense of insurance agents in state and federal court and litigation of claims arising under ERISA.

Gerard Kowalski recently jointed the firm. He was employed at Wachovia Securities, LLC as Senior Vice President, Senior Litigation Counsel from July 2003 through March 2005, and, prior to that, he was with Prudential Securities. He has extensive securities industry and trial experience. While at Prudential and Wachovia, he represented these companies and individual employees in arbitration and litigation, provided internal advisory services and regulatory oversight, conducted internal investigations, and interacted with the NASD, NYSE, and SEC on various issues relating to broker/dealer regulation and registration. A 1984 Temple University School of Law graduate, he clerked for Judge John A. Geisz in the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia County and served under the Honorable Ronald D. Castile as an Assistant District Attorney. While in the District Attorney's Office, Mr. Kowalski tried numerous major felony and homicide juries. Thereafter, he accepted employment with Prudential Securities Incorporated, where he eventually became Senior Vice President and Regional Counsel.

Jeffrey Chomko has also litigated cases in the state and federal courts and through ADR Options and the American Arbitration Association. He is admitted to practice in both the Federal District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania. He serves as an Arbitrator for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and he has defended insurance companies and insurance agents in federal and state courts. A 1988 Boston College Law School graduate, Mr. Chomko was previously employed with the Vanguard Group of Investment Companies, where he worked in the Retirement Plans Division. During his tenure with Vanguard, he obtained his Series 6 and 63 licensure and co-managed Vanguard's shareholder proxy. As a member of Vanguard’s Legal Department’s Securities Regulation Group, he was responsible for regulatory and disclosure issues relating to disclosure documents filed with the SEC.

Samuel Cohen received his Juris Doctor in 1996 from Temple University School of Law, where he was his class’s vice-president. He clerked with the Honorable G. Craig Lord in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, and in 1997, he joined our firm. In 1999, Mr. Cohen became associated with another large Philadelphia-based law firm. There he was involved in commercial, securities, and bankruptcy litigation. He rejoined Marshall, Dennehey in 2002 and devotes his practice full time to the defense of broker-dealers and individual investment and insurance professionals in federal and state courts and before the NASD and with regulatory matters involving states' securities commissions, the SEC, and the NASD.

Joel Wertman is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars. Mr. Wertman received his Juris Doctor from Temple University where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Environmental Law and Technology Journal and a Member of Temple's Mock Trial Team.

Deirdre Heine joined Marshall, Dennehey as an associate in 2004 after working in the Securities Practice Group as a law clerk. She is a graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law and a member of both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars. Prior to law school, Ms. Heine worked in the securities industry and held NASD Series 6 and 63 licenses.

A sampling of the other attorneys that work in conjunction with the Philadelphia office of the Securities and Investment Practice Group are:

Jay S. Rothman earned his Juris Doctor in 1987. While earning his degree, Mr. Rothman served as a legal intern at the Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division. He is a frequent lecturer in the professional liability field and is a member of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Philadelphia Bar Association, the Technology Practice Group of the Defense Research Institute, and is the Coordinator of Marshall, Dennehey’s Professional Liability Practice Group.

Craig Hudson is a 1985 graduate of Rutgers University School of Law, Camden, New Jersey. His practice includes ERISA, FDCPA/FCRA cases, disputes between business partners, D&O litigation, breach of contract claims, and the defense of all types of non-medical professionals including attorneys, accountants, pension benefit specialists, and insurance brokers. He has been involved in a number of class actions and other complex litigation cases and is admitted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern, Middle, and Western District Courts of Pennsylvania, and the District of New Jersey.

James McGovern is a shareholder in the firm's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office. He has been licensed to practice law for fifteen years and dedicates a substantial amount of his time to representing Registered Representatives, broker/dealers, insurance agents, attorneys, accountants, actuaries, and investment advisors in a wide array of activities including regulatory inquiries, customer complaints, arbitration, mediation, and litigation. He is a member of the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and District of Columbia Bars and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS).

Timothy McMahon is the managing shareholder of the firm's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania office. Mr. McMahon has been admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar since 1988. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Professional Liability Committee and devotes a substantial portion of his litigation practice to representing insurance and investment agents and brokers, accountants, and attorneys. He has handled matters in the state and federal court systems, NASD arbitrations, in mediation, and other ADR settings.

In our law firm's Cherry Hill, New Jersey office, John Slimm and Lawrence Berg work with the Securities Practice Group. Each of them dedicate a substantial portion of their professional time representing the interests of professionals, including investment and insurance professionals.

John Slimm is a 1970 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School and is admitted to practice for the United States Supreme Court, Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Court, and Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the American Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association, and International Association of Defense Counsel. He is also a Master in the Camden County Inns of Court Trial Advocacy Program, and has achieved an "A V" rating in Martindale-Hubbell.

Lawrence Berg is a 1987 graduate of the Southern Methodist University School of Law and is admitted to practice in the State Courts of New Jersey, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Following law school, Mr. Berg clerked for the Honorable John S. Holston, Jr. Mr. Berg joined Marshall, Dennehey in 1989 and dedicates 100% of his practice time to litigation, including representing the interests of insurance and investment professionals.

Kevin Connors, managing shareholder of the firm's Wilmington, Delaware office, graduated from Villanova University School of Law in 1981. He was a member of the Villanova Law Review and Articles Editor from 1980 to 1981. He later served a one-year clerkship to former Associate Justice John J. McNeilly of the Supreme Court of Delaware. Mr. Connors has defended securities, defamation and commercial libel, professional legal, medical, realtor, and home inspection malpractice cases. He is a member of the Delaware and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. He is admitted to practice in Delaware and Pennsylvania, in the U.S. District Courts for the District of Delaware, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Defense Counsel of Delaware, and The Delaware Claims Association. Mr. Connors was elected to membership in the Trial Attorneys of America - the only Delaware attorney currently a member of this organization of defense litigation and corporate counsel. Mr. Connors has extensive appellate experience, having argued appeals before the Supreme Courts of Delaware and Pennsylvania, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

*Andy is a shareholder in our Philadelphia, PA office. He can be reached at (215) 575-2679 or adavitt@mdwcg.com.