Practice Areas

Our corporate and securities group provides a broad range of business and securities-related services to all forms of business organizations. We assist our clients through all stages of their business life, from the selection of the most efficient form of business organization (corporation, limited liability company, partnership, etc.), to drafting agreements among the founders of the business, including shareholder, limited liability and partnership agreements, through assisting closely-held companies and their underwriters as they navigate the path of rapid growth, early-stage capital raising and the transition to public ownership.

In our company representation, we help management and boards of directors structure inter-company relationships, adopt new charters, address disclosure questions and develop compensation arrangements that provide incentives to senior management and employees and permit them to benefit from company growth.

We also represent both companies and executives in employment and compensation matters, including the negotiation of employment agreements and the creation of stock-based benefit plans. In addition, we provide a full range of services for issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, debt financings, spin-offs, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and other sophisticated corporate transactions. As a company makes the transition to public status, we provide detailed, step-by-step guidance to officers and boards on the requirements of public ownership, including their continuing compliance obligations under state and federal securities laws and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Lehman & Eilen LLP also serves as special securities counsel to other law firms across the country.

Lehman & Eilen LLP has one of the leading securities regulatory practices in the country, representing over 100 domestic and foreign broker-dealers, more than 50 investment advisers and investment partnerships (hedge funds), and numerous financial planners, commodity futures introducing brokers, advisers and traders.

Our in-depth knowledge of the financial services industry, drawn from many years of representation of securities industry participants, as well as the in-house and regulatory agency service of several of our attorneys, gives us the ability to provide a broad range of services to our clients, including efficient and cost-effective initial SEC and state broker-dealer and investment adviser registrations, FINRA (f/k/a NASD) membership applications, preparation of compliance and supervisory procedures manuals and codes of ethics, and day-to-day compliance advice, including advice in the complex areas of anti-money laundering, net capital compliance, trading and sales practice issues and "soft dollar" research payments.

When securities industry participants are faced with regulatory inquiries and investigations, we stand ready to assist our clients in their response, knowing when to seek a conciliatory result and when to aggressively defend in an adversarial forum.

Related to our work with our investment adviser clients, we also organize hedge funds, prepare the necessary private placement memoranda for their offerings, make the necessary SEC and blue sky filings, and work with their promoters to establish operating procedures.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was one of the most significant revisions of the Federal securities laws in decades, having been designed to restore investor confidence in the nation’s financial markets by improving corporate responsibility through required changes in corporate governance and accounting practices. We provide guidance for public companies in understanding and complying with Sarbanes-Oxley. For example, we assist our clients in:

• Developing an audit committee charter that complies with Sarbanes-Oxley’s rules regarding supervision of the audit engagement and financial expertise.
• Establishing an audit committee that complies with Sarbanes-Oxley’s rules regarding independence and financial expertise.
• Developing procedures to enable a company’s corporate officers to meet Sarbanes-Oxley’s certification requirements.
• Drafting corporate governance materials, including disclosure controls and procedures, audit committee policies and codes of ethics.
• Establishing procedures for the receipt, handling and retention of anonymous complaints from its employees relating to accounting or auditing matters.

Lehman & Eilen LLP provides efficient and result-oriented services in the litigation and arbitration arenas to both individuals and organizations. Our dispute resolution practice is concentrated in the securities, business and financial services sectors, and we are regularly engaged to both advise upon and litigate matters that involve claims of:

• Securities fraud, churning, unauthorized trading and suitability.
• Employee raiding, unfair competition and covenants not to compete.
• Corporate, partnership and shareholder disputes and dissolutions.
• Employment discrimination, unlawful termination and defamation.
• Hedge Funds.

Our philosophy is to creatively resolve disputes when possible, while standing ready to go to trial when necessary. Our attorneys appear in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration and administrative tribunals throughout the nation. Lehman & Eilen LLP also serves as special bankruptcy counsel to other firms nationwide.