Two-Way Street. (Wall Street West).Last week we reported a rush at business for lawyers representing investors who contend they have been harmed by the practices of Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER TYO: 8675 ), through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related products and services on a global basis. and others on Wall Street. So it stands to reason that phones are also ringing at firms defending securities-industry types. One regional defense shop is Bell, Simpson Abbot in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or , where nameplate partner Michael Abbott has spent 30 years defending stockbrokers, investment bankers, brokerages and others. There is more defending to do than ever, Abbott said. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. figures provided by the Securities Industry Association, the number of filings for binding arbitration rose 25 percent last year, and are up another 25 percent this year. NASD NASD See: National Association of Securities Dealers NASD See National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). figures indicate that investors win something in more than half the cases. The percentage could rise as New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10 1959 ) is an American lawyer, politician and the current Governor of New York. Spitzer was elected governor in the November 2006 election. makes public more details about alleged conflicts of interest by the major houses. Still, Abbott recalls that not all losses go against the individual investor. "We had one guy who came into a major brokerage in town and wrote a check for $1.5 million, and bought a lot of stock at the top of the market. The stocks tanked, and guess what -- the check bounced," Abbott said. "The best part is this. His girlfriend came in and wrote a check for $600,000 to cover the losses -- and that check bounced too." Abbott was called in to try to collect the lost dough. "Everybody lost a lot of money on that one," he said. Benjamin Mark Cole writes about the local investment community for the Los Angeles Business Journal. He can be reached at sevencontinents@mindspring.com. |
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