Press Release
Duane Morris Welcomes Three Attorneys to New York Office
NEW YORK, January 8, 2008 - Duane Morris is pleased to welcome three attorneys to its New York office. The firm welcomes Marvin Pickholz and Jason Pickholz as partners in the Trial Practice Group, and Jane Wexton as a partner in the Corporate Practice Group. The arrival of these well-known lawyers highlights the firm's commitment to expanding its Trial and Corporate practices in New York. All arrive from the New York office of Florida-based firm Akerman Senterfitt.
These three lawyers possess extensive experience in securities and general commercial litigation and have highly successful and expansive international practices.
Marvin Pickholz is nationally known for his many years of experience in securities law and regulation both in government and private practice. He represents clients in domestic and international investigations, and civil and criminal proceedings, as well as before Congress. He was a national assistant director of the SEC's Enforcement Division from 1978 to 1979 where, during the early stages, he brought many Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases. Pickholz has represented and counseled clients in commercial disputes, internal investigations and various white-collar matters throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Pickholz was designated by The National Law Journal as one of the top ten lawyers for mixed criminal and SEC proceedings, and by Washingtonian Magazine in its listing of Washington's top 50 lawyers. He is the author of "Securities Crimes," the leading treatise in the area, and is co-author of chapters in other treatises on accountants' liability and Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He has written more than 50 articles and lectured domestically and abroad.
Pickholz was the founder of the SEC Alumni Association, and served as its first president from 1989 to 1993.
Pickholz has been involved in numerous high-profile cases, including the Martha Stewart criminal case; as well as Lipper Holdings (Lipper Funds); Wall Street analysts, mutual fund, market timing, and New York Stock Exchange floor specialists cases. He has also acted as counsel in cases involving Lincoln Savings & Loan, J. Peter Grace/W.R. Grace (setting standards for director conduct), Ivan Boesky and related insider trading matters, and U.S. Steel Corporation (SEC decision setting environmental disclosure obligations for publicly traded entities).
Pickholz was the head of litigation for the New York office of his former firm and the national co-head of its white-collar group. He received his LL.M and LL.B from New York University School of Law and his A.B. from New York University. He is a member of the board of directors of The Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, and is a member of the James Lenox Society of New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center and the Theatre Development Fund of New York.
Jason Pickholz is a highly experienced litigator who has represented clients before federal and state courts, arbitration panels, the SEC, various U.S. Attorneys' Offices and self-regulatory bodies like the NASD and NYSE. He has represented clients from the U.S., Canada, England, France, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea.
Pickholz was counsel in the first anti-money-laundering case against a New York Stock Exchange member firm, represented a member firm in the first disciplinary case ever brought by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and represented several corporate officers in the SEC and U.S. Attorney's Office investigations of Royal Ahold/U.S. Foodservices. He has represented clients in matters involving stock options backdating, hedge funds, corporate compliance, securities fraud, bank conversions, audits and accounting, market timing and after-hours trading, trading ahead, interpositioning and unregistered securities.
Pickholz has written and spoken extensively on white-collar crime issues, securities law and regulation, e-discovery and international arbitration. Prior to co-founding the Pickholz Law Firm in 2002, Pickholz practiced at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C. in New York. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Pickholz received his J.D. from New York University School of Law. He served first as a director and now is an honorary member of the board of directors of the NYU Law School Alumni Association. He earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Colgate University, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.
Pickholz sat as an advisory member on the board of directors of his prior law firm. He is the son of Marvin Pickholz.
Jane Wexton joins the firm's Corporate Practice Group. She has considerable experience in international and domestic corporate compliance and white-collar matters. She spent 10 years as General Electric's chief compliance officer and was a senior vice president of GE's consumer finance and structured finance divisions. Wexton also served as a director of GE's bank holding company. She supervised 365 compliance officers in 50 countries for GE. Previously, Wexton headed Citibank's global anti-money-laundering unit. She has developed and initiated prevention, detection and remediation programs, and conducted internal investigations in more than 100 countries for these two major corporations.
Wexton was a member of the U.S. delegation to the G7 nations' Financial Action Taskforce, and she has spoken and written on a number of corporate compliance matters. Her writings include "The Awakening of Giant Anti-Corruption Enforcement" and "The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Coping with Heightened Enforcement Risks." She has also lectured for the Ethics and Compliance Officers Association Annual Meeting, the American Bar Association, the American Bankers' Association, the Gulf States Economic Conference in Dubai and the International Symposium on Financial and Economic Crime at Cambridge University, and has addressed the International Bar Association in Paris and Brussels.
Wexton was the chair of the Compliance Practices and Advisory Services Group at her prior law firm. She received her J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review, her M.A. in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her B.A. from the City College of New York.
Wexton is married to Marvin Pickholz.
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the world, is a full-service firm of more than 650 lawyers. In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing approximately 100 professionals engaged in other disciplines. With offices in major markets in the United States and internationally, Duane Morris represents clients across the U.S. and around the world.
