Securities Law

Public Companies:

Burns & Levinson's attorneys have extensive experience representing public and private issuers, stockholder groups and individual investors. Our attorney team counsels clients on IPOs and follow-on offerings of equity, debt and other securities (including shelf registration takedowns), corporate acquisitions involving registered and restricted stock, mergers and acquisitions where one or both parties are publicly traded, private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions, equity line of credit financings; private placements, venture capital financings, and complex securities law transactions and issues, including corporate governance/Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC and stock exchange reporting and compliance.

In the securities compliance area, we advise our clients on corporate governance/Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC and stock exchange reporting and compliance. Specifically, we assist our clients in fulfilling their ongoing SEC and stock exchange reporting obligations, managing sensitive disclosure issues internally and with industry analysts, preparing proxy statements and handling stockholder meetings; structuring employee benefit plans and executive compensation packages under the SEC's "short-swing profit" reporting and liability rules, effecting re-sales of securities in the public trading markets under the SEC's Rule 144, and advising boards of directors and board committees concerning the requirements and restrictions imposed on their actions by the securities laws and corporate governance laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley. We have served as special securities counsel to the Boards and Audit Committees of publicly traded companies looking for opinions or advice of counsel other than their regular outside counsel.

We have counseled clients both domestic and international, from high technology and life sciences to emerging growth companies, and are positioned to provide clients with timely, expert, efficient and cost effective advice that they need to meet their business objectives. We take a practical and proactive approach to the rapidly changing securities disclosure and corporate governance laws, providing our clients with timely updates, identifying specific situations in which the new laws will impact particular clients either operationally or structurally, and working with clients to implement the changes that are either required or advisable to comply with the new regulatory schemes and investor sentiment.

Underwriters and Investment Banks:

Our attorneys have represented underwriters in initial and follow-on public offerings and investment banks in private placements.

Investment Companies:

Our investment company or mutual fund capabilities include all aspects of investment company law and regulation, including in particular the Investment Company Act of 1940. Our experience includes representing funds (registered and unregistered, load and no-load, open and closed end, onshore and offshore, and public and private, including hedge funds), their independent trustees, and other law firms. Our expertise includes the creation and registration of new funds; preparation of required disclosure and related offering documents; advising boards of directors and trustees concerning fiduciary and other matters; preparing applications and requests for, and obtaining, SEC exemptive orders and no-action letters; advising and assisting clients with SEC and other regulatory examinations; mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; custodian and other service provider contracts; and master/feeder structures.

Investment Advisors/Broker-Dealers:

We represent investment advisory and broker-dealer clients in all matters, ranging from their organization, financing, licensing/registration under federal and/or state laws, operations, compliance, and acquisitions and divestitures. In addition to those activities relevant to investment advisors/broker-dealers described above under "Investment Companies," our expertise includes thorough familiarity with the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, ERISA, USA PATRIOT Act, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Securities Law Group at Burns & Levinson

Name	Title	Phone	Email
Andrew J. Merken, Co-Chair	Partner	617.345.3740	amerken@burnslev.com
Josef B. Volman, Co-Chair	Partner	617.345.3895	jvolman@burnslev.com
David M. Amidon	Partner	617.345.3578	damidon@burnslev.com
Raymond E. Baxter	Of Counsel	617.345.3818	rbaxter@burnslev.com
Gil Breiman	Partner	617.345.3627	gbreiman@burnslev.com
Stephen D. Brook	Partner	617.345.3722	sbrook@burnslev.com
J. Fraser Collin	Associate	617.345.3791	fcollin@burnslev.com
Theodore E. Dinsmoor	Of Counsel	617.345.3825	tdinsmoor@burnslev.com
Donald J. Ellis	Associate	617.345.3719	dellis@burnslev.com
Chad J. Porter	Associate	617.345.3686	cporter@burnslev.com
Samuel M. Shafner	Partner	617.345.3222	sshafner@burnslev.com
Susan K. Shapiro	Partner	617.345.3310	sshapiro@burnslev.com