Debra G. Speyer - Bala Cynwyd, PA

Overview

With her boutique elder law, estate planning, probate, guardianship, trust and estate administration and and investment fraud law firm, Debra, a former chair of the Elder Law Committee of the Bar Association, TV legal expert, quoted in more than 250 periodical nationally, and voted by other lawyers as a top elder law and investment fraud lawyer, has help thousands of families with their legal needs. Every client is treated as if that client will determine the success of this firm.

Debra get results - effectively and compassionately. Her book "Money, Health and Home: Seven Steps to Helping Your Parents Navigate Retirement and Aging" is being published shortly.

Debra is also an astute, experienced, and aggressive litigator with a national and international securities law practice. Before going into private practice in 1990, Debra was an attorney with the Enforcement Division of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) prosecuting brokerage firms and stockbrokers for investment fraud and regulatory violations. Prior to that, she was an attorney and vice president with Thomson McKinnon Securities, Inc., an international brokerage firm which later merged with Prudential Securities. While at Thomson McKinnon, she passed every stockbroker and brokerage firm examination that the securities industry offered, including all options and commodities examinations.

Debra holds a law degree, a master's degree in finance with a thesis on program trading and stock markets, and a bachelor's degree in accounting. Prior to entering law school, she was an accountant.

She has been quoted in over 250 periodicals throughout the world, including Newsweek, Kiplinger's Magazine, USA Today, Crain's New York Business, American Banker, The Street.com, Securities Week and Investment News.

She had been voted by other lawyers as being one of Philadelphia's top lawyers appearing in Best Lawyers of Philadelphia. She is also listed in Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in America. She was honored by the National Organization of Women Business Owners with their annual "Women Making History" award. Debra has been acknowledged by Arrive Magazine as being one of the five "Women to Watch" on the East Coast for her work defending the rights of defrauded Senior Citizens.

Debra is a frequently invited guest speaker for business, professional and non-profit organizations, and is a legal commentator for radio talk shows and television. She has appeared on Wall Street Journal Radio, NBC TV, CNN Financial News TV, CNBC TV's "Wake Up Call" and "Power Lunch Financial News," CN8 TV, Fox News, and WB17, as well as Comcast TV's "Legal View" with the Securities and Exchange Commission Director speaking on topics related to securities fraud. Debra has written extensively about investment fraud and elder fraud, and those articles have appeared in various newspapers and magazines.

Debra is on the Lawyers Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Securities Commission. Pro bono work is an integral part of her law practice. She has been on numerous non-profit boards, including SeniorLaw, which assists indigent senior citizens with their legal problems. She is also on the board of directors for AMIT Children, and received an award from the organization for her fundraising efforts on behalf of abused and disadvantaged children.

Debra is a lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and other continuing legal education programs on the subject of securities fraud and the elderly, and has been a co-lecturer with the Pennsylvania Securities Commissioner on the subject of investment fraud. She is co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's annual elder law course "Legal Issues in an Age of Aging," and was chair of the elder fraud conference in conjunction with the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, the purpose of which was to educate senior citizens on how not to become victims of fraud.

In addition to being a former chair of the Elder Law Committee of the Bar Association, she has been active in other committees and sections including the Probate and Estate Committee and the Securities Regulations Committee. She belongs to, and serves on, various committees and subcommittees of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Public Investors American Bar Association, American Association for Justice, American Trial Lawyers Association, British Law Society, Connecticut Bar Association, Florida Bar Association, New York State Bar Association and DC Bar Association. She is also an arbitrator for FINRA and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.