Profile
Beth A. Black focuses her practice on a variety of financial services industry litigation and regulatory matters. Beth regularly defends major brokerage firms in a wide variety of employment disputes in arbitration and before administrative agencies involving claims of federal and state statutory discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation and defamation. She has represented broker-dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, investment management firms, directors and officers, and public issuers and their management and employees in litigation, investigations and disciplinary proceedings initiated by the SEC, FINRA, FDIC, CBOE, CHX and state regulators. She has also conducted internal investigations of brokerage firms as well as publicly traded domestic and foreign companies whose operations are in the United States and China. Additionally, Beth has represented financial services firms and their management in various customer-initiated cases in state and federal court and in arbitration.
Concentrations
- Financial services litigation
- Employment litigation and arbitration
- Financial services regulatory
- Commercial litigation
- Corporate internal investigations
Capabilities
Experience
- Defended a broker-dealer in a $1.25 million wrongful termination claim brought by a Vice President. After five days of hearing, the panel dismissed all claims.
- Represented the Audit Committee of a U.S. publicly listed Chinese provider of content delivery and cloud computing in connection with a special investigation of claims raised by a whistleblower involving allegations of potential FCPA violations, related party transactions and manipulating revenues. Completed the investigation and made recommendations to the Audit Committee in time for the Company to remain in compliance with its reporting requirements.
- Represented an underwriter in nationwide class and derivative action litigation raising charges of "yield burning" in connection with certain advance refundings of municipal bonds. The federal court dismissed the claims arising out of the Investment Advisers Act, remaining claims being refiled in state court. Judgment was granted in the underwriter’s favor and upheld on appeal.
- Represented a national bank and a broker-dealer in a state court action alleging statutory and common law claims arising from the sale of interest rate swap agreements. Secured dismissal of all claims by trial court. Trial court judgment affirmed on appeal.
- Represented a former director and a former officer of a failed bank in the Northern District of Illinois and FDIC enforcement action.
- Represented broker-dealers, supervisors and registered representatives in numerous SEC, FINRA, state securities regulator and exchange investigations into such matters as supervision, market manipulation, insider trading, suitability, misrepresentation and reporting issues. In connection with many of these investigations, Wells submissions were prepared and filed.
Recognition & Leadership
- Member, Palm Beach County Association
- Member, Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Palm Beach County Chapter
- Member, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Compliance and Legal Society
Credentials
-
J.D., cum laude, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, 1999
- Associate Justice, Moot Court Executive Board
- Member, The Order of John Marshall Honorary Scholarship Society
- B.S., Northern Illinois University, 1990
- Florida
- Illinois
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida