Pete S. Michaels focuses his practice on securities litigation, regulatory proceedings involving financial service companies and products, and compliance matters. He represents multinational and regional financial services firms, including banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, mutual fund firms, and insurance companies as well as their employees, directors, and officers.
Pete’s extensive experience with securities disputes includes class actions, state and federal court cases, arbitration, and related employment matters. He also represents clients before a wide range of federal, state and self-regulatory agencies: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Futures Association, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and state securities regulators.
In the compliance side of his practice, Pete guides clients through complex internal investigations and has served as an outside compliance consultant on two Massachusetts Securities Division matters. Before joining Mintz, Pete was co-chair of the Financial Regulatory and Compliance Practice and a partner in the Boston office of an international law firm.
He joined that firm after nearly two decades at a Boston securities litigation boutique, where he served as managing partner. He was also an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School for four years teaching Securities Regulation.
Earlier in his career, Pete spent five years as an associate general counsel and vice president of an investment banking firm, and he was an associate at two international law firms. After law school, he served as a law clerk to the late Hon. George C. Edwards Jr. of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
EXPERIENCE :
- Represented broker-dealer in an investigation of its alleged market timing of mutual funds that involved numerous agencies: the Massachusetts Securities Division, the SEC, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, the New York Attorney General’s Office, the New York Stock Exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., and the DOJ.
- Represented financial institutions and corporate officers in SEC and FINRA investigations involving allegations of securities laws violations, including insider trading, market manipulation, free-riding, and front-running.
- Represented corporate officers and supervisors in numerous contested FINRA Enforcement Division hearings involving fraud allegations that ended with verdicts finding no fraud after trial.
- Represented individuals and broker-dealers in multiple state securities regulatory matters involving allegations of excessive markups, due diligence lapses, unsuitability, mutual fund break-points, data breaches, and failure to supervise.
- Represented multiple broker-dealers in employment matters in state and federal courts and arbitrations, including cases alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, and raiding.
EDUCATION :
- Boston College (JD)
- Ohio State University (MA)
- University of Toledo (BA, cum laude with honors)
ADMISSIONS :
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
Cost
Rate : $$$