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Updated: 04/09/2025
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Chicago Financial Services Litigation Lawyer
Overview
Bruce Lewitas has litigated financial services disputes for three decades, beginning his career as an enforcement attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and thereafter serving as both in-house and outside counsel and representing both individuals and broker-dealers. Bruce has overseen thousands of matters involving customer disputes, employment matters, regulatory inquiries and internal investigations.
Upon graduating Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1991 with Order of the Coif and high honors, Bruce accepted a position with the SEC where, for almost six years, he investigated potential violations of the federal securities laws and, when warranted, prosecuted civil actions in federal court and before administrative law judges. While at the SEC, Bruce also earned his Master in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 1997, Bruce joined the legal department of EVEREN Securities, a mid-sized national broker-dealer, serving as both litigation and advisory counsel. After the firm was acquired by a North Carolina-based bank, Bruce declined the offer to relocate and elected instead to open his own law firm in January 2000.
Over the next six years, Bruce represented multiple brokerage firms and registered investment advisors, as well as individuals, in customer and employment disputes and regulatory matters. In 2006, one of Bruce’s primary clients, Morgan Stanley, recruited him to open, staff and manage its newly created Midwest litigation office tasked with insourcing the firm’s defense of customer complaints, arbitrations, litigation and related internal and regulatory investigations. In addition to his oversight of the unit, Bruce maintained an individual caseload, personally defending many of the firm’s high-stakes and high-profile litigation and regulatory matters, including three federal appellate cases briefed and argued without the assistance of outside counsel. In May 2008, Bruce assumed the additional responsibility for Morgan Stanley’s nationwide financial advisor promissory note collection efforts, resolving over 5,000 matters and recovering in excess of $750 million in the ensuing seven years.
In January 2016, Bruce joined Greenberg Traurig, the preeminent international law firm for financial services litigation. During his four-plus years as a shareholder, Bruce continued his representation of financial services institutions focusing on high-dollar value customer and employment disputes. Bruce’s expansive experience uniquely qualifies him to represent clients in any employment or customer financial services disputes involving, among others, the following issues:
Customer vs. Firm/Associated Person:
- Suitability
- Churning/Excessive Trading
- Reverse Churning
- Breach of Fiduciary Duty
- Fraud/Misrepresentation
- Failure to Disclose Material Information
- Over-Concentration
- Failure to Hedge
- Margin/Debit Balances
- Annuities
- Selling Away
Firm vs. Associated Person:
- Promissory Notes
- Wrongful Termination
- Statutory Discrimination
- Hostile Work Environment
- Whistleblower Claims
- Form U4/U5 Defamation
- Post-Separation Defamation
- Restrictive Covenants
- Internal Investigations
- Compensation
- FA Recruitment
- FA Separation
Bruce’s practice also focuses on the representation of individuals and institutions in regulatory inquiries, investigations and enforcement proceedings involving the following regulators:
- SEC
- FINRA
- CBOE
- NFA
- State Securities Regulators
- EEOC
- OSHA
- State Employment Regulators
About Bruce Lewitas
Current Employment Position(s)
- Partner
Practice Areas
- Financial Services Litigation
- Broker-Dealer Litigation
- Arbitration and Mediation
- Securities Litigation
- Broker-Dealer Employment Litigation
- Broker-Dealer Employment Advisory
- Financial Regulatory & Compliance
- Securities Regulatory Investigations/Enforcement Proceedings
- Corporate Internal Investigations
- Financial Services
Qualifications
Bar Admissions
- Illinois
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois
Past Positions
- SEC’s Division of Enforcement
- Morgan Stanley’s Legal and Compliance Division
- Greenberg Traurig
- EVEREN Securities
Education
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, 1991
J.D. - Michigan State University, 1988
B.A. - University of Chicago, 1996
M.B.A.
Office Information
Address
77 W Wacker DriveSuite 4500 Chicago, IL 60601
Phone
Fax
- 312-281-9019
Websites
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