Legal Services & Lawyers

With 25 years of experience, I represent financial professionals and firms in all aspects of their operation, compliance and litigation matters, nationwide. I also represent individual brokers from virtually every major firm in their contract negotiations, employment termination, U-4 and U-5 issues. In specialized situations where the facts or law present novel issues, I also represent investors.

Locally, I represent small and medium sized businesses in their formation, operation and litigation, using my Wall Street background to assist those business entities.

Mauro M. Wolfe joined Dickstein Shapiro as a partner in the Securities—Litigation, Regulatory, & Compliance—Practice in 2006, after a nine-year career in government. He counsels and defends corporations, financial institutions, and individuals in the areas of securities regulation, securities enforcement, and white-collar crime. He also conducts internal investigations related to these areas and, more recently, information security management, data breach incidents, and art law matters.

I am a senior corporate/securities lawyer with broad experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and private equity/venture capital, for the most part involving U.S. and foreign small-cap public companies and middle-market private companies. I focus particularly on representing small-cap public companies in a wide range of industries (most notably petroleum, electronics/technology, transportation, and apparel/retail) in IPOs and other equity and debt financings, SEC reporting, NYSE and Nasdaq listings, corporate governance, and negotiating strategic transactions.

I serve on the Corporate Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. I am also a member of the New York Chapters of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and the National Investor Relations Institute, the American Bar Association's Committees on Federal Regulation of Securities and International Law and the Colombian American Association.

In addition, I serve on the Board and as Vice President, Membership of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs in New York, and represent entrepreneurs seeking to launch new businesses, through the New York City Bar Association's Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project and other New York City pro bono organizations.

Ruth Jin, Esq. (rjin@jinlex.com) has extensive experience in the following practice areas:

- Early-stage company formation and financing, intellectual property protections, licensing agreements, and other general corporate matters;

- Business Acquisitions, Mergers, Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances;

- Venture Capital, Private Equity & Entrepreneurial Transactions, including Fund formation, evaluating and structuring of initial and follow-on investments, structuring and negotiating anquisition of target companies, debt financing such as syndicated loan facilities, subordinated debt facilities and mazzanine debt facilities, advising on continuing relationships with portfolio companies, and determining strategies for investment exit;

- Hedge Funds & Investment Managements; and

- Chinese law and Japanese law. Ruth is absolutely fluent in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and has represented many American companies doing business in China, Korea and Japan, and many Chinese, Korean and Japanese companies doing business in the U.S., in connection with a wide range of corporate transactions.

Prior to having her own solo practice, she worked for 6-7 years at the corporate law departments of such major law firms as Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and McKee Nelson (merged with Bingham McCutchen LLP).

Ruth has publications in law journals and often speaks at business roundtables. Ruth was a panelist in the 2005 American Bar Association Section of International Law Spring Meeting on international trade related issues, and was a fellow of the Institute of International Economic Law in Washington, D.C. from 2003 to 2004.

I offer the following:

- Strategic and legal advice to small/mid-cap businesses and their founders
- Corporate and LLC formation
- Partnership, shareholder and LLC operating agreements
- Employment contracts
- Non-compete, non-solicit and confidentiality agreements
- Trademark and copyright registration
- Advice relating to founders' liquidity events (M&A/financings)

I have advised dozens of companies in such diverse sectors as entertainment, technology and digital media, food products and fashion.

David S. Rich is the founding member of the Law Offices of David S. Rich, LLC. Mr. Rich litigates civil, commercial, employment, and securities matters in federal and state courts in New York and New Jersey, and arbitrates such matters before FINRA and other arbitral bodies. Mr. Rich also litigates appeals.

Mr. Rich has represented clients in, among other civil and commercial matters, breach of contract actions, business torts cases, bankruptcy and adversary proceedings, civil racketeering actions, oppressed minority shareholder disputes, product liability litigation, franchisor-franchisee litigation, qui tam actions, divorce actions and post-divorce judgment proceedings.

Mr. Rich has represented clients in, among other among other labor, employment, and employee benefits matters, breach of employment contract actions, employment discrimination cases, retaliatory discharge actions, sexual harassment cases, actions for breach of non-competition or non-solicitation agreements, ERISA actions to recover pension or health benefits, and employee benefit funds' actions to recover withdrawal liability payments and delinquent ERISA contributions.

Mr. Rich has represented clients in, among other securities matters, securities fraud cases, breach of fiduciary duty actions, actions for breach of investment management contracts, and arbitration proceedings to recover unpaid bonuses.

Before founding Law Offices of David S. Rich, LLC, Mr. Rich was a partner of a boutique litigation firm in New York City. Mr. Rich has also served as an associate of two prominent, mid-sized law firms in New York City and New Jersey, respectively. Mr. Rich has litigated many noteworthy cases, such as JLM Chems., Inc. v. Summit Resource Group, Inc., No. 08-CV-10296, 2009 WL 1108662 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 24, 2009); Barron Partners, LP v. Lab123, Inc., No. 07-CV-11135, 2009 WL 129043 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 20, 2009); Barron Partners, LP v. Lab123, Inc., No. 07-CV-11135, 2008 WL 2902187 (S.D.N.Y. July 25, 2008); Pastore v. Witco Corporation Severance Plan, 196 Fed.Appx. 18, 2006 WL 2335161 (2d Cir. 2006); and Donohue v. Teamsters Local 282 Welfare, Pension, Annuity, Job Training & Vacation & Sick Leave Trust Funds, 12 F. Supp.2d 273 (E.D.N.Y. 1998).

Mr. Rich earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the Columbia University School of Law. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Mr. Rich is admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, and in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and for the District of New Jersey. He is a member of the New York City Bar Association.

CHESTER COUNTY LITIGATOR, PROPERTY TAX APPEALS

Ms. Kovan has a decade of "big firm" litigation experience. Now she offers that level of expertise to her clients at a more cost effective rate. Ms. Kovan’s litigation experience includes representing companies and individuals in state and federal court actions throughout the United States as well as securities matters pending before the National Association of Securities Dealers, New York Stock Exchange (collectively now known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA“)) and the United States Securities Commission (“SEC”). Ms. Kovan has handled numerous securities related matters, including customer disputes, enforcement actions, SEC investigations and insider trading investigations/actions. Ms. Kovan has also represented clients in federal and state litigation and appeals.

Additionally, Ms. Kovan has represented clients in commercial and real estate disputes. Ms. Kovan has a long track record of successfully representing commercial and individual taxpayers in real estate tax assessment appeals throughout Pennsylvania. She has secured significant property tax savings for her clients, including representing a national telecommunications provider in state-wide tax appeals and a major international airport in its tax exemption appeals.

Ms. Kovan brings with her a unique understanding of business, as prior to law school, Ms. Kovan worked in the area of international trade finance in Vienna, Austria. In that capacity, she assisted large and small companies in the financing of import/export transactions (including letters of credit) throughout the world. She is fluent in German and proficient in French.

Ms. Kovan received her B.A. from Kenyon College. She is a magna cum laude, graduate of the Villanova University School of Law