Why securities law

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Securities Law. Tax Law. Trusts and Estates. White Collar Crime. For J. Explore Legal Careers. Practice Areas. Securities Law A security is an investment in a business.

What do Securities Lawyers do? Representative Employers Government: U. If you sustained significant losses investing in securities, please contact our team today for the aggressive legal representation that your claim deserves.

If you sustained investment losses, you need to answer the following overriding question: Did your investments lose money or were you a victim of misconduct? This complicated and difficult question will determine whether or not you have a valid legal claim.

A securities fraud lawyer will be able to assess your circumstances and help you answer this question. When you invest in any type of securities, you are not guaranteed success. As investors, we all know that the market offers both upsides and downsides. There is simply no such thing as a guaranteed investment.

Investors are forced to accept and deal with the market risk that comes with purchasing securities or putting their money into any other type of investment. You will not have a viable legal claim simply because your investments lost money. However, at the same time, brokers and brokerage firms have extensive legal duties to protect the best interests of their clients.

If you lost money because your broker did something wrong, either intentionally or unintentionally, then they can be held legally responsible for your investment losses. When assessing if you have a viable investor losses claim, you should start by asking yourself the following six important questions. At this point, a qualified securities lawyer will be able to help you.

Put simply, you need to have your case reviewed in detail by an experienced attorney who can figure out exactly what happened and can help you determine what needs to be done next to protect your legal rights and financial interests. There are many different securities laws on the books that are designed to protect investors against fraud and negligence.

Two of the most prominent examples are the Securities Act of and the Securities Act of Additionally, U. If you were sold securities by any party, or if you have an account with any registered brokerage firm in which you bought and hold securities, you have certain rights that must be protected.

In the unfortunate event that you were the victim of misconduct, you can hold bad acting parties liable for their actions. In regards to securities, investor losses claims come in many different forms. In fact, a securities fraud lawyer can help you bring legal action based on any of the following underlying claims:. Clearly, investment fraud claims come in a wide variety of forms. In many cases, wronged investors will have multiple, overlapping causes of action on which they can bring their claim.

The most important thing that all investors need to remember: Your broker and brokerage firm has a duty to look out for your best financial interests.

Securities exist in the form of notes, stocks, treasury stocks, bonds, certificates of interest or participation in profit sharing agreements, collateral trust certificates, preorganization certificates or subscriptions, transferable shares, investment contracts, voting trust certificates, certificates of deposit for a security, and a fractional undivided interest in gas, oil, or other mineral rights.

Certain types of notes, such as a note secured by a home mortgage or a note secured by accounts receivable or other business assets, are not securities. Two principle settings for buying and selling securities exist - issuer transactions and trading transactions. On the one hand, issuer transactions are the means by which businesses raise capital. These transactions involve the sale of securities by the issuer to investors. On the other hand, trading transactions refers to the purchasing and selling of outstanding securities among investors.

Investors trade outstanding securities through securities markets that can be either stock exchanges or "over-the-counter. Stock exchanges provide a place, rules, and procedures for buying and selling securities, and the government heavily regulates them.

Generally, to have their securities sold and bought on a stock exchange, a company must list its securities on a given exchange. Transactions that do not take place on a stock exchange occur in the the residual securities market, known as the over-the-counter market.

Only dealers and brokers registered with the SEC may engage in securities business both on stock exchanges and in over-the-counter markets.

See self-regulatory organization. Securities regulations focus mainly on the market for common stocks. Both federal and state laws regulate securities. On the heels of the Great Depression, Congress enacted the first of the federal securities laws, the Federal Securities Act of , which regulates the public offering and sale of securities in interstate commerce.

This Act also prohibits the offer or sale of a security not registered with the Securities Exchange Commission and requires the disclosure of certain information to the prospective securities' purchaser.

Then, needing an agency to enforce those regulations, Congress established the Securities Exchange Act of , which created the SEC. Since then, Congress has charged the SEC with administering federal securities laws.