FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TALLAHASSEE & FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. – The Florida Bar Professional Ethics Committee has voted in favor of a request by Securities Attorney Mark Tepper aimed at preventing conflicts of interest in settlement agreements with brokerage firms. The committee modified its original opinion to reflect that confidentiality provisions of broker settlement agreements that interfere with a lawyer’s future practice would violate ethics rules.
"Some brokerage firms have a strong interest in concealing misconduct while they hold themselves out to the public as trustworthy. While confidentiality provisions may be properly applied to the terms of settlements, an ethics violation occurs when those same confidentiality provisions are applied to the underlying facts, because those facts may be needed to represent future clients against the same opposing party; thus, creating a conflict of interest," said Tepper, a former Chief Trial Counsel at the Bureau of Investor Protection and Securities, who represents the interests of investors in civil actions.
Tepper had sought the opinion of the Professional Ethics Committee following an arbitration settlement with one of the country's leading financial management and advisory companies. He argued that efforts by brokerage firms to make the underlying facts of the case confidential, forced a "Hobson's Choice" between an attorney's obligations to a prior client and representation of future clients against the same opposing party.
The Committee also upheld Tepper's view that a settlement agreement requiring attorneys to agree to indemnify their opposing parties in the event of a breach of its confidentiality provisions is prohibited.
About Mark Tepper PA (www.MarkTepper.com)
Practicing law for over 30 years while representing the interests of investors in criminal and civil actions, AVR-rated attorney Mark Tepper has earned a reputation as "Investor Advocate." His clients include investors facing the sometimes volatile risks presented by financial products known as Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) - a type of mortgage-backed security that, in spite of AAA ratings or government guarantees, is not protected against interest rate risk. An elected Board Director of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) he is a former New York Assistant Attorney General and Chief Trial Counsel at the Bureau of Investor Protection and Securities.
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