Ervin J. Shustak

Erwin Shustak is the founder and Managing Partner of the Firm. He heads the Litigation and Arbitration Department, with over 40 years of extensive experience in a wide variety of complex disputes and transactions, across the country and overseas. Mr. Shustak specializes in litigations, trials, arbitrations and appeals of complex securities, financial and business disputes, with a particular emphasis in the areas of securities and financial services and regulation law. Few attorneys have the depth and range of his legal experience and judgment.

He has handled and overseen several hundred litigations and arbitrations, in Federal and State Courts and arbitration forums across the country. He has represented public and private companies of all kinds, including financial institutions; broker-dealers; registered investment advisors, advisory firms and securities brokers; governmental agencies, including the FDIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation; manufacturing firms in many industries; hedge funds and investment partnerships; and defrauded investors. His vast trial and arbitration experience includes business, securities and financial fraud; breach of contract; real estate transactions and disputes; employment disputes; unfair competition, non-compete and restrictive covenant cases; and intellectual property disputes including copyright and trademark infringement. He is a highly experienced and respected litigator as well as an ardent… Read More

Erwin Shustak is the founder and Managing Partner of the Firm. He heads the Litigation and Arbitration Department, with over 40 years of extensive experience in a wide variety of complex disputes and transactions, across the country and overseas. Mr. Shustak specializes in litigations, trials, arbitrations and appeals of complex securities, financial and business disputes, with a particular emphasis in the areas of securities and financial services and regulation law. Few attorneys have the depth and range of his legal experience and judgment.

He has handled and overseen several hundred litigations and arbitrations, in Federal and State Courts and arbitration forums across the country. He has represented public and private companies of all kinds, including financial institutions; broker-dealers; registered investment advisors, advisory firms and securities brokers; governmental agencies, including the FDIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation; manufacturing firms in many industries; hedge funds and investment partnerships; and defrauded investors. His vast trial and arbitration experience includes business, securities and financial fraud; breach of contract; real estate transactions and disputes; employment disputes; unfair competition, non-compete and restrictive covenant cases; and intellectual property disputes including copyright and trademark infringement. He is a highly experienced and respected litigator as well as an ardent and effective negotiator.

Mr. Shustak began his career at the premier national law firm of Kaye Scholer Fierman Hays & Handler, in New York City. He is admitted to the State and Federal Courts of California, New York and New Jersey; the Second, Third, Fifth and Ninth Circuit Federal Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. For over 25 years he has served as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers) and the National Futures Association. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of San Diego; the New York, California State and San Diego County Bar Associations. Erwin also is a member of the Legal and Compliance Society of SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Erwin resides in Del Mar, California and travels extensively serving the Firm’s clients. He is active in a number of community organizations and generously gives his time and experience to various pro bono projects. Erwin is an active member of IR Global, a leading international association of legal and accounting professionals, based in London, which provides our Firm with access to top professionals across the globe. Erwin is a member of the Disputes Committee of that organization.

Areas of Practice:
-Complex Securities and Business Litigations and Arbitrations
-Financial Services Law
-Securities and Financial Fraud
-Unfair Competition
-Business and Real Estate Disputes
-SEC, FINRA and Regulatory Investigations and Enforcement Proceedings

During his career, Erwin has received numerous awards and recognitions for his professional expertise, including:
ž• Selected by his peers for inclusion in the 23rd Edition (2017) of Woodward White’s “The Best Lawyers in America©” for his work in Financial Services Regulation Law. Best Lawyers© is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession;
• Named a SuperLawyer© seven times by SuperLawyer Magazine, published by Thompson Reuters, for his peer recognition and professional achievements in securities and business litigation;
• Named one of the “Top Lawyers in San Diego” and “One of the Top Lawyers and Law Firms You Need to Know” in the 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013 annual Attorneys editions of San Diego Magazine;
• Honored as a “Top Litigator” of 2014” and a “Top Rated Lawyer of 2013″ in the field of Commercial Litigation by Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer;
• Voted one of San Diego’s “Best of the Bar” in 2015 and 2014;
• Selected for Lifetime Membership in Rue Ratings’ Best Attorneys of America©;
• Named “One of the Top 100 Litigation Lawyers in California” in 2014 and 2015 by The American Society of Legal Advocates, a recognition awarded to less than 1.5% of lawyers nationally;
• Received the highest rating- AV- from Martindale Hubbell since 1985, a testament to the fact that his peers rank him at the highest level of professional excellence;
• Lifetime Member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, based on a number of multi-million-dollar jury and arbitration awards he has obtained for clients over the years.  Fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members;
• Selected by The San Diego Daily Transcript as one of the Transcript’s “Top Ten Attorneys in 2005″, and named as one of the “Top Influentials in 2012″;
• Selected by the readers of Fine Magazine as the Top Commercial/Corporate Attorney of 2016;
• Featured on the cover of the 2012 edition of “Top Rated Lawyers in New York” published by The National Law Journal and The American Lawyer;
• Named a “Top Rated Lawyer in Securities Law” in 2013 by American Lawyer and Martindale Hubbell; and
• Rated “Superb”, by Avvo (10 out of 10).