Held senior legal positions at SEC and Commodities Futures Trading Commission; Expects to also work closely with Venable's expanded corporate governance/investigations group
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 12, 2002) – Venable LLP, which has recently expanded its corporate governance practice alongside its corporate finance and securities capabilities, has brought on a new partner with extensive experience in both areas. Frederic T. Spindel joins the Washington-based law firm with a career that combines a longtime private practice in securities regulation and corporate transactions with postings at two federal enforcement agencies regulating financial markets.
Mr. Spindel spent six years with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970s, where he served as an assistant general counsel and was involved in a number of major policy initiatives and enforcement cases. He subsequently served for over three years with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a number of senior staff positions, including deputy general counsel.
For the past 20 years, Mr. Spindel has engaged in corporate and securities transactional and business counseling practice for two national law firms, most recently, in the Washington and McLean, VA offices of Pillsbury Winthrop, LLP.
Julie Davis Epperly, a senior associate who teamed with Mr. Spindel on corporate transactions, including many financings and mergers/acquisitions on behalf of companies inside and outside the Washington-area, is also making the move to Venable.
"It’s as if we’ve gained two highly experienced attorneys in Fred Spindel," said Paul Kaplun, vice chair of Venable’s business division. "With a thriving corporate practice he brings added bench strength to our corporate finance and securities group, and the years he has spent in enforcement and investigations are a great enhancement to our burgeoning governance practice and a bridge to our litigators across the firm. Fred Spindel and Julie Epperly will keep us busy on multiple fronts while we welcome their input on existing investigations and governance matters."
Mr. Spindel’s representation of clients extends to both development-stage and established businesses across a broad spectrum of corporate finance and securities regulatory and enforcement matters such as mergers, recapitalizations, large-scale asset and stock acquisitions, and spin-offs and restructurings, as well as debt and equity financings, including venture capital, private equity and public offerings. Clients have included familiar names in broadcasting, entertainment, retail, automotive, publishing and telecom, as well as emerging players in defense technology, life sciences, and other new economy sectors.
His practice also encompasses representation of financial firms such as investment banks and advisors, brokerage houses, hedge and venture funds, and commodities brokers. In addition to helping structure transactions and develop investment products, Mr. Spindel often counsels financial firms and their executives in regulatory and enforcement proceedings, as well as in shareholder relations and litigation. He has represented capital markets firms, public and private companies, and officers and directors in numerous SEC, CFTC and NASD investigations involving everything from financial fraud to market manipulation, insider trading and disciplinary proceedings, as well as in shareholder dispute litigation, including 10b-5 securities class-action lawsuits.
"My practice moves in several directions and it was important to be with a firm that has substantial depth of business and transactional work as well as solid litigation and intellectual property capabilities, especially since we deal with technology licensing, joint ventures and financings for IP-rich companies," Mr. Spindel said.
"I’m pleased to join a firm with an established business law franchise in the greater Washington market, but also delighted to become part of Venable’s governance group, since we spend considerable time counseling highly regulated securities and commodities firms before the major enforcement agencies and watch-dog groups," he added.
Venable’s business division, with 140 attorneys firmwide, has been active representing entrepreneurial and established companies engaged in capital formation and expansion in the mid-Atlantic corridor. The firm has structured corporate finance and securities transactions for large public and private companies and has an especially strong presence among the region’s bioscience sector.
Mr. Spindel is the second former SEC lawyer to join Venable in recent weeks. In September, the firm added former SEC senior enforcement attorney Nancy R. Grunberg to its corporate governance group. Ms. Grunberg spent nine years at the Commission over two separate stints, eventually becoming assistant director in the Division of Enforcement; she also served as litigation counsel for the Office of International Affairs.
Fred Spindel Background
Mr. Spindel earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin in 1968 (Order of the Coif; Texas Law Review). He served for two years as an officer in the U.S. Army with postings as a staff judge advocate before moving full-time to the SEC in Washington, eventually becoming special counsel and then assistant general counsel in 1974-75.
He joined the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1975 and spent three years in the general counsel’s office, serving as deputy general counsel in 1979. The CFTC regulates the country’s commodities futures markets and Mr. Spindel acted as principal legal advisor on development and implementation of Commission policy; he was also in charge of the CFTC’s litigation program. Two decades later, he appears before the Commission on behalf of clients, serving as counsel in major cases involving commodity markets manipulation.
"Having been involved with two of the major agencies dealing with financial markets has yielded recurring dividends in private practice, whether in helping clients structure transactions, cope with investigations and litigation, or having to navigate compliance and enforcement actions – a day does not pass without my agency experience coming into play for clients," Mr. Spindel said.
Mr. Spindel is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a course in corporate and securities practice. He also has served as an arbitrator for the National Futures Association. Mr. Spindel has acted as a legal and regulatory advisor to foreign financial agencies and exchanges, including the securities commissions of the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand and Trinidad, as well Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
Mr. Spindel received his B.A. from Cornell University and is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia bars. He lives in Silver Spring, MD.
Julie Davis Epperly received her J.D from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1996. She earned an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University School Law Center in 1998.
Photos of Fred Spindel and Julie Epperly available upon request.
One of the American Lawyer’s top 100 law firms, Venable LLP has attorneys practicing in all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, intellectual property and government affairs. Venable serves corporate, institutional, governmental, nonprofit and individual clients throughout the U.S. and around the world from its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and offices in California, Maryland, New York and Virginia. For more, visit www.Venable.com.