Mark is the principal blogger at SECLaw.com, although there are occasional contributors and postings from press releases.
Mark is an attorney licensed to practice law before all state and federal courts in the States of New York and New Jersey as well as the United States Supreme Court. Since his graduation cum laude from New York Law School in 1981, Mr. Astarita has practiced law primarily as a corporate and securities litigator, representing individuals and corporations in a wide variety of legal disputes, ranging from employment disputes to trade secret litigation to sophisticated securities litigation.
From 1995 to 2000 he was the legal columnist for Research Magazine. His column, "For the Record" ran for 5 years, and covered topics of interest to investors and brokers. Most of the columns are still being read and downloaded at SECLaw.com, the online securities law site which Mark created in 1995. SECLaw.com is one of the most popular legal topic sites in the world, and has been since its creation over 15 years ago.
In his law practice, Mark has concentrated his work in the area of securities regulation and litigation. During his career he has primarily represented stock brokers, investment advisors, compliance officers as well as their firms, in all aspects of their business and regulatory affairs. His representation includes all regulatory and compliance matters related to brokerage firms, hedge funds and investment advisors including federal and state registration and examinations, court litigation, securities arbitrations, disciplinary proceedings, and regulatory investigations. He has represented over 60 broker-dealers during his career, including the largest wirehouses, regional firms and small brokerage and investment advisory firms. He has represented clients in proceedings in 23 states. A summary of Mr. Astarita's more interesting and novel cases is contained in the document Beam & Astarita Significant Cases and Decisions.
Mark also represents investors in exceptional cases, and is one of the few attorneys to obtain (and receive payment of) a million dollar punitive damage and attorney fee award against a brokerage firm for misconduct.
Martindale-Hubbell, the most respected and impartial source of information about attorneys in the U.S., Canada and worldwide, has given Mr. Astarita their highest rating ("AV"), and have determined that his legal ability is very high to preeminent and his ethical standards are very high. An attorney in the US cannot receive a higher rating than this rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Mark's complete CV is online at SECLaw.com and more information is available about his and his firm at their website.
