Edgerton and Weaver, LLP provides comprehensive legal services for financial institutions, retirement plans, and real estate firms worldwide. We also counsel and defend professionals, including accountants and attorneys, in malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims as well as regulatory enforcement actions.  

We manage client matters with direct attention from senior attorneys who possess extensive legal and industry-specific expertise.

Securities Group

E&W attorneys specialize in commercial litigation with a particular emphasis in broker-dealer, hedge fund, and insurance defense. We also represent clients in government enforcement actions and provide a full range of corporate compliance counseling. Our clients receive direct attention from senior attorneys with extensive industry-specific expertise.

Litigation
E&W attorneys represent clients in trial and appellate courts at the federal and state level, before administrative tribunals and in arbitrations and mediations. We regularly defend some of the world's largest and most respected financial companies in customer disputes, employment, trade secret, and corporate raiding cases.

Regulatory Enforcement Litigation
E&W attorneys represent financial planners, investment advisers, money managers, hedge funds, banks and broker-dealers before the SEC, DOJ, CFTC, NYSE, FINRA, and the Department of Labor. We offer a full range of counseling for clients at all stages of enforcement proceedings, including informal inquiries, administrative actions, and formal investigations.

Regulatory Compliance
E&W attorneys provide counsel and compliance outsourcing to financial companies, pension plans and investment professionals striving to stay abreast in today's rapidly evolving regulatory environment. We assist corporate counsel in reviewing, initiating, executing, and overseeing ethics and compliance programs. We also provide comprehensive consultation to boards of directors and special committees concerning corporate governance matters. Our attorneys have specialized knowledge of the challenges facing financial companies attempting to attain compliance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Pension Protection Act (PPA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), and the USA PATRIOT Act, as well as the regulatory mandates of the CBOE, CFTC, FINRA, NYSE and SEC. Given our extensive experience in securities defense, E&W attorneys have the foresight to counsel our clients in developing procedures to avoid prospective exposure.

Registered Investment Adviser Services
E&W offers registration advice and assists clients in compliance with the rules and registration of investment advisor firms. In doing so, we review, analyze and implement the appropriate supervisory and compliance structure; identify and recommend the appropriate organizational structure; identify and complete requisite filing requirements, including the preparation and filing of Form ADV and applicable schedules, with the SEC and/or applicable state(s); customize investment management and client agreements; prepare solicitor disclosures and agreements; customize policies and procedures manual(s); prepare business continuity plan; provide consulting/training services on applicable compliance issues; and interface with the SEC and or state securities regulators.

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Insurance Group

E&W attorneys defend insurance companies in professional liability coverage disputes and bad faith litigation. They also represent professionals, including attorneys, in malpractice actions.

Real Estate Group

E&W attorneys defend real estate developers, investors, lenders, brokers (mortgage and real estate) and agents in litigation and regulatory actions. We also provide a variety of transactional services such as drafting, interpreting and negotiating contracts and establishing land trusts.

ERISA Plan and Investment Fiduciary Group

Our ERISA Plan and Investment Fiduciary Group defends plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries in government enforcement proceedings as well as private litigation. Through our ERISA Plan Risk Assessment Program, we work directly with plan sponsors and service providers to avoid prospective exposure by identifying and remedying fiduciary breaches and prohibited transactions.

Litigation and Regulatory Defense for ERISA Plans and Investment Fiduciaries

E&W attorneys regularly defend investment companies and plan fiduciaries against breach of fiduciary duty claims and regulatory enforcement actions. Given our extensive experience in securities and ERISA matters, E&W attorneys are well-positioned to provide our clients with holistic counseling on a variety of investment and employment-related concerns.

ERISA Plan Risk Assessment

E&W's ERISA Plan Risk Assessment draws on our network of trusted pension consultants and auditors to assist plan sponsors and their service providers in assessing whether plan fiduciaries are meeting their respective obligations. Once deficiencies are detected and remedied, E&W issues a letter certifying that the plan is operating in a compliant manner and that the named fiduciary has met or exceeded their duty to prudently select and periodically monitor service providers.

 

Professional Liability Defense

E&W attorneys defend brokers and agents in actions alleging errors and omissions, including those for negligence, fraud and bad faith. We also provide support for attorneys in professional malpractice cases and for accountants in suits involving GAAP, GAAS and tax codes.

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