David A. Gehn
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Phone: (212) 269-1400
Fax: (212) 809-5449
120 Wall Street
New York, New York 10005
David A. Gehn has been practicing law since 1992 and has been a partner at Gusrae, Kaplan, Bruno & Nusbaum since January 2001. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gehn was the General Counsel of Bluestone Capital L.P., and its online trading division, Trade.com, a brokerage firm that was 25% owned by ABN Amro & Co., Ltd. one of the world's largest banks. Before joining BlueStone Capital, Mr. Gehn was a partner in the law firm Bachner & Gehn, which specialized in securities litigation, securities regulation, enforcement actions, and white-collar criminal defense.
Mr. Gehn's practice focuses on representing securities industry clients in employment and transitional matters regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, broker-dealer compliance and litigation matters. He has an active securities arbitration and traditional court litigation practice with multiple reported awards and cases. Mr. Gehn also represents broker-dealers and registered representatives in connection with initial and continuing membership applications and regulatory matters brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, and various state regulatory authorities.
Mr. Gehn has recently accepted an appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Securities Law L.L.M. Program at New York Law School and is scheduled to start teaching a class on Regulatory Enforcement in January 2010. In addition, Mr. Gehn has been a featured speaker at the SIA Independent Firms Conference speaking on the topic of Broker-Dealer Supervision and he was a featured Speaker at the National Regulatory Conference on the topic of outside business activities. In addition, he has written an article that was published in the PLI Securities Arbitration Handbook entitled "Voir Dire: The Silver Bullet to Neutralize "Hired Gun" testimony of "Expert" Witnesses in Securities Arbitration.
Education
J.D., New York Law School, 1992
B.A., University of Maryland, 1988
Court Admissions
New York and U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 1993U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit
Professional & Bar Association Memberships
Journal of International and Comparative Law
Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award
Legal Research and Writing
General Counsel, Blue Stone Capital Partners, 1999-2000
Practice Areas
Publications & Speaking Engagements
SIA, Independent Firms Conference 2006 Speaker on Management and Supervision of Independent Investment Advisors
PLI, Securities Arbitration, Voir Dire The Silver Bullet To Neutralize "Hired Gun" Testimony of "Expert" Witnesses in Securities Arbitration
Barrons, The Call From Hell - Feature article about research analyst client
Investment News, FINRA sank his job chances, attorney says - Feature article about client that was about to appointed as the Commissioner of the State of Florida's Office of Financial Regulation
New York Law School, Adjunct Professor, L.L.M. Program, Securities Enforcement, scheduled to commence January 2010
Representative Cases
Mr. Gehn has acted as lead counsel in hundreds of matters, the vast majority of which settle. Mr. Gehn has over fifty (50) reported decisions. Below are noteworthy decisions in cases that Mr. Gehn served as lead counsel:
McKowan Lowe, et. al. v. Jasmine, Ltd., et. al. United States Court if Appeals, 3d Circuit - 3d Circuit Court of Appeals upheld United States District Court's Summary Judgment dismissal of all claims against underwriter, directors and officers of underwriter, and accounting firm from a Class Action Complaint brought by investors in the Jasmine, Ltd. initial public offering.
Sobek v. Quattrochi, Power2ship, et. al. Southern District of New York Prevailed on a Motion to Dismiss a publicly traded Company from a Federal Court case that alleged breach of contract and RICO claims and asserted damages of approximately $360,000 in connection with certain stock purchase agreements.
Meringolo v. Power2Ship,. et. al. Southern District of New York Successfully defended publicly traded company against an injunction action in connection with the Company's failure to issue an opinion authorizing the removal of a restrictive legend contained on a stock certificate.
Chuilla v. UBS Financial Services and Frigoletto NASD Arbitration Successfully prevailed on a pre-hearing Motion to Dismiss and request for Expungement.
Rizzo v. Kaufman Brothers NASD Arbitration - Successfully represented the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in an action again his former employer. Obtained award in excess of compensatory damage request as well as statutory interest and reimbursement of filing fees.
Keilly v. Sands Brothers & Co., Ltd. NASD Arbitration Successfully defended Co-Chairman of brokerage firm and obtained dismissal of all claims.
J.P. Turner v. Gregg Lorenzo, et. al. NASD Arbitration Successfully represented broker in an action brought against him by former employer and obtained an Award of Attorney's fees.
Balaish v. National Securities Corporation NASD Arbitration Represented Brokerage Firm and prevailed on a pre-hearing Motion to Dismiss the Claim.
Simonian v. EC Capital, et. al. NASD Arbitration - Represented Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and prevailed on a pre-hearing Motion to Dismiss the Claim.
Wayne v. D.H. Blair, et. al. NASD Arbitration Successfully represented broker in an arbitration and obtained an award dismissing all claims against registered representative, an order of Expungement, and an order of $4,500 in sanctions against the Claimant.
Bertoncini v. The Caria Group, et. al. NYSE Arbitration Represented NYSE Member Firm in an action brought by a former Member and seat leasor and obtained a dismissal of all claims.
BlueStone Capital Partners, L.P. v. Jeffers, et. al. NASD Arbitration Obtained injunction on behalf of Brokerage Firm against former National Sales Manager and reduced to $161,000 the counter-claim of $6,084,855.
Wilson Family Trust v. R.D. White, et. al. NASD Arbitration - Successfully defended broker and not only obtained a dismissal of all claims, but prevailed on counter-claims against public customer.