Jeffrey Plotkin
Partner
jplotkin@fdh.com
T: (203) 325-5018 - F: (203) 325-5001
vCard
Jeffrey Plotkin has practiced law for over thirty years in the areas of securities enforcement, internal corporate investigations, complex private securities litigation and arbitration, and white collar criminal defense. He represents broker-dealers, investment advisers, public and private companies, independent audit committees, corporate officers and directors, securities professionals and individual investors in adversarial matters nationwide. Mr. Plotkin also provides compliance consulting services to broker-dealers, investment advisers, and technology companies.
Among his most recent representations, Mr. Plotkin:
Mr. Plotkin started his career in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, New York Regional Office, where he served as Staff Attorney; Chief of the Branch of Broker-Dealer Enforcement and Interpretations; and Assistant Regional Administrator. During his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Plotkin handled and supervised investigations and enforcement actions concerning underwriting fraud, market manipulation, boiler room sales fraud, short sale rule violations, investment fund fraud, free-riding and other margin violations, unauthorized transactions, and net capital and customer protection rule violations.
After leaving the SEC, Mr. Plotkin has handled a number of independent regulatory projects, including serving as the:
Mr. Plotkin is a former adjunct professor of law for New York Law School’s LLM Program for Financial Services Law, and was an annual guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business for over ten years. He is the former Co-Chair of the Securities Subcommittee of the White Collar Criminal Litigation Committee of the New York State Bar Association, and principal author of the Committee’s 2010 published report regarding criminal prosecutorial discretion in insider trading cases. He is the author of several published white papers and articles concerning broker-dealer regulation of electronic communications, and author or co-author of several published articles concerning SEC enforcement practice and insider trading.
Mr. Plotkin is Chair of the firm’s Practice Standards Committee and a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He is on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., a nonprofit law firm dedicated to improving the lives of low-income people by providing access to justice, and is Co-Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee.
Author, "BlackBerry: The FINRA Compliant Smartphone," February 2011 (White Paper commissioned by Research in Motion Limited) Download Here
Co-author, "Criminal Prosecutorial Discretion in Insider Trading Cases: Let's Look at the Numbers," NYLitigator, Fall 2010 Download Here
Co-author, "Confidential Commercial Documents in the SEC's Investigative Files: Caution to the Complacent," Securities Regulation Law Journal, Fall 2010 Download Here
Co-author, "SEC v. Bank of America: Back to the Drawing Board," ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter, Winter 2010 Download Here
Author, "The Designated Third Party Requirement: The Final Frontier of SEC Rule 17a-4(f)," November 2009 (White Paper commissioned by Iron Mountain) (republished February 2012) Download Here
Author, "BlackBerry in the Regulatory Spotlight: FINRA Provides Compliance Guidance to Member Firms Regarding 'Non-Member E-Mail Platforms' and 'Personal Electronic Communications Devices,'" February 2008 (White Paper commissioned by Research in Motion Limited)
Co-author, "Responding To SRO Market Surveillance Inquiries Into Potential Insider Trading," The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, October 2007 Download Here
Co-author, "Securities Class Action Settlements - How Corporate Governance Reform Has Played a Role in the Process," New York Law Journal, September 20, 2007 Download Here
Co-Author, "Reaping the Benefits of Electronic Message Surveillance," 2006 (report of broker-dealer survey conducted with Fortiva, Inc.) Download Here
Co-author, "The Act-Of-Production Privilege in SEC Proceedings," The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, Vol. 39, No. 1, January 4, 2006 Download Here
Author, "SEC Enforcement Actions: Show Me the Money," New York Law Journal, December 19, 2005 Download Here
Author, "E-Mail Discovery: Worst Case Scenarios vs. Best Practices," 2004 (White Paper commissioned by Veritas/Symantec, Inc.) Download Here
Author, “Corporate Governance – The Impact on your IT Staff,” September 5, 2003 (White Paper commissioned by Veritas/Symantec)
Author, "The Tipper Benefit Test Under the Misappropriation Theory," New York Law Journal, August 15, 2003 Download Here
Author, "Broker-Dealer Regulations Concerning E-Mail," New York Law Journal, December 4, 2002 Download Here
Panelist, “FINRA Arbitrations: A Comprehensive Guide for 2020 and Beyond,” Knowledge Group webcast, August 6, 2020
Panelist, “Enforcement 2015 – New Priorities, Initiatives and Latest Developments,” Regulatory Compliance Association Symposium, “Compliance, Risk & Enforcement – New York 2015,” November 3, 2015, New York City
Panelist, “FINRA’s Guidance for Securities Traders Using Algorithmic Trading Strategies: A Perspective,” Knowledge Group webcast, October 27, 2015
Panelist, "SEC Initiates Flash Boy Regulations – A Comprehensive Analysis," Regulatory Compliance Association, Practice Edge Webinar, October 7, 2014
Adjunct Professor of Law, Course: "Criminal Prosecution Affecting Financial Firms - A Defense Perspective," New York Law School LLM Program in Financial Services Law, Spring 2011
Guest Lecturer, Subject: "Insider Trading Law for Securities Analysts," Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 1996 to 2010
Panelist, "Treasury's Proposed Regulator Overhaul - Implications for Technology," Second Annual SecuritiesTech Conference, sponsored by Securities Industry News, October 6, 2008, New York City
Panelist, "Global EDiscovery: Cross-Border Employees And Privacy Protocols For Cross-Border Discovery In U.S. Civil Litigation And Investigations," IQPC eDiscovery Conference for the Financial Service Industry, February 29, 2008, New York City
Panelist, "How to Handle SEC Investigations from the Informal Investigation Stage to the Conclusion of the Wells Notice Process," Broker-Dealer Enforcement Conference, sponsored by American Conference Institute, October 24, 2005, New York City
Co-chair, Broker/Dealer Information Management Conference, sponsored by American Conference Institute, March 17-18, 2005, New York City; Panelist, "Meeting Storage Requirements for E-Mail, Instant Messages, and Electronic Documents;" Panelist and Moderator, "Practical Solutions, Integrating a Compliant and Effective Data Management Program into Corporate Culture"
Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., Board of Directors, 2018 - Present (Co-Chair, Governance and Nominating Committee)
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Compliance & Legal Society
New York State Bar Association, White Collar Criminal Litigation Committee, Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (Former Co-chair, Securities Subcommittee)
Connecticut Bar Association, Federal Practice Section
American Bar Association, Business Law Section
Westport Arts Center, Board of Directors, 2014 – 2018 (Chair, Governance Committee)