Sylvia Scott is a partner in our Los Angeles office and head of the firm's Securities Practice Group. Ms. Scott has successfully Represented clients in numerous securities cases and investigations drawing from her 18 plus years of experience as a former enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly known as the NASD), and Department of Justice (Antitrust Division).

Ms. Scott's practice focuses on all aspects of securities regulation and litigation. Ms. Scott represents members in the investment advisory and brokerage industry in private litigation, regulatory investigations and examinations, and regulatory enforcement actions. Ms. Scott has successfully represented numerous brokers and investment advisers in enforcement matters before the SEC, FINRA and state regulatory agencies. She has also successfully represented companies under regulatory scrutiny by the SEC and state regulators. Another aspect of Ms. Scott's practice includes advising companies regarding private placements, drawing from expertise gained while she served as a staff expert at FINRA with regard to private placements and underwritings.

As a former prosecutor and manager with both the FINRA and SEC, Ms. Scott has specialized knowledge of the challenging regulatory environment in which securities professionals must operate. During her 12-year career with NASD, Ms. Scott developed a reputation as a top notch securities litigator and expert in the broker-dealer industry. A Former FINRA Enforcement official stated in her departure announcement, "Without doubt, Sylvia has been one of the finest attorneys and litigators ever in this Enforcement Department. During her 12 years with us, we have come to respect her formidable litigation abilities and to count on those talents in a number of high visibility cases. In addition to her enforcement work Sylvia also contributed greatly to the Enforcement Department and NASD in a wide variety of other ways. Since the inception of the Regulatory Expertise Program, Sylvia has been a member of the Underwritings/Private Placements/Hedge Funds Team. In that capacity, she has spent countless hours providing her expertise to her NASD colleagues through, among other things, training and individual case consults."

During Ms. Scott's 6-year career at the SEC, she became an Assistant Regional Director in the Enforcement Department of the SEC's Pacific Regional Office where she assisted in planning and shaping the overall objectives of the office's enforcement program. Ms. Scott also had ongoing responsibilities for supervising and litigating numerous enforcement actions involving the Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

EDUCATION

UCLA School of Law (J.D. 1985)
Loyola Marymount University
(B.A. Business Administration, 1982)

ADMISSIONS/QUALIFICATIONS

State Bar of California, 1988
State Bar of Pennsylvania (inactive)
United States District Court, Central District of California
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

ARTICLES, SPEECHES AND SEMINARS

Faculty Member - ABA National Institute of Securities Fraud Conference, November 2011, speaker on how to best navigate a FINRA inquiry and the referral process between FINRA, the SEC and DOJ.

Faculty Member - PLI Hedge Fund Enforcement & Regulatory Developments in November 2011, speaker on SEC inspections and examinations in the post Dodd Frank world. 

Faculty Member - National Association of Compliance Professionals (NSCP). Speaker at the Spring 2009 Regional Conference Winter (Topic: BDs - Supervisory Responsibilities); Fall 2009 National Conference (Topic: IAs - Applying the Fundamentals); Winter Regional Conference 2010 (Topic: IAs - Addressing New Issues in SEC Examinations & Enforcement Proceedings).

Subcommittee Member, Broker-Dealer Committee Legal & Regulatory Subcommittee (National Society of Compliance Professionals): Interprets and provides guidance on new and evolving regulations to NSCP members. 

Author - "New and Continuing Developments in the SEC's Examination and Enforcement Programs (With FINRA Following Suit)," Currents Magazine, an NSCP publication.

Author - "Today's Regulatory and Economic Environment Requires Firms to Take a Closer Look at the Overall Efficacy of Their Compliance Programs (...And It's Good Business)," Currents Magazine, an NSCP publication.

Speaker - Enforcement Trends and Recommended Compliance Measures, FINRA's (District 2) Annual Preventative Compliance Conference Seminars (2000 - 2005).

Speaker - Reg D Fraud, at the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) Mid-Atlantic Zone Meeting (2005).

Instructor/Trainer - As FINRA senior counsel, trained examination and enforcement staff on a broad range of regulatory issues.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS/CLIENTS

Representation of broker-dealers, other financial institutions and companies variously before the SEC, FINRA, state regulators, the National Futures Association and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Representation of companies before FINRA in connection with membership application approvals.

Representation of brokers and investment advisers before FINRA, CFTC, the SEC and state regulators.

Representation of individual brokers in connection with employment disputes against large wire houses.

Representation of university against large financial institution in connection with complex financing transactions.