Biography
Marc S. Gottlieb has been practicing law since 1989.
He is admitted to the Bars of the States of New York and New Jersey but has routinely litigated cases in jurisdictions throughout the U.S. During most of his career, he has been a trial lawyer, although he handles many non-litigation matters, including acting as advisor to numerous boards of directors of public and private companies throughout the country. Marc’s practice is rather unique insofar as it centers primarily on two distinct yet surprisingly overlapping areas of law; corporate and securities litigation, and family law.
CORPORATE AND SECURITIES LITIGATION (AND REGULATION)
During his law school studies, Marc had a great curiosity about Wall Street, especially hostile takeovers. This led to his taking advanced securities courses during his graduate training. Following his legal studies, he even went so far as to write his first novel, Pride, which centers around Wall Street and specifically, hostile takeovers.
In 1996, while a partner in a boutique Manhattan law firm, and already a seasoned trial lawyer, Marc had the opportunity to represent a small broker-dealer. His handling of this one regulatory matter led to an explosive growth of securities cases which continues to this day. Since then, he has handled a wide array of securities related matters, including serving as litigation counsel to dozens of broker-dealers and hundreds of individual brokers and compliance personnel. He appears regularly before the SEC and FINRA, the two entities with the primary (civil) responsibility for regulating the securities industry, and he serves as defense counsel in white collar criminal investigations and proceedings, including representing targets in grand jury proceedings, criminal complaints and indictments, plea and cooperation agreements, etc.
Marc has handled hundreds of FINRA arbitrations and has tried a great number of these matters to verdict, sometimes on behalf of the Claimant, and during others, on behalf of the Responding Party, usually a broker or brokerage firm. Having worn both the plaintiff and defense hats, Marc has developed a unique view of securities related matters and is comfortable on either side of the courtroom.
Marc’s practice has also led him to the board room of many companies, including publicly traded companies. He has been retained to handle a wide range of corporate litigation matters involving disputes over intellectual property, contracts, labor related issues, to name a few.
FAMILY LAW
Very early in his career, well before Marc entered the world of financial regulation, he had the occasion to represent a wealthy client in a very complex and well-publicized matrimonial matter in New York County. Ultimately, this case went to trial (the trial itself lasted more than 70 days). The case presented an incredible array of complex Domestic Relations Law issues, including parental kidnapping, relocation; child abuse, custody and visitation, not to mention a lengthy battle over the allocation of the millions of dollars in the marital estate. This one case found its way into the courts of three states, the New York Court of Appeals, and eventually even into the Federal Court system. In the end, Marc prevailed on nearly every substantive issue, including the numerous appeals that followed, and by the time he concluded his five-year representation of this one client, he had, by necessity, grown into a seasoned matrimonial lawyer. This one complex case led to many others and eventually into a successful matrimonial and family law practice. Since that time, he has handled a great number of matrimonial matters, many of them quite complex. These have included bitterly fought custody cases in addition to the fights over money and other assets. Marc has found that his knowledge of securities and corporate litigation has been incredibly helpful in these instances. Having a keen knowledge of corporate finance, knowing where assets may be hidden, and knowing how to read a financial statements and tax returns, have all proven to be invaluable resources in this area of law.