Susan L. Harper

Susan L. Harper, Esq. is an associate with the New York office of Baritz & Colman LLP. She concentrates her practice in securities arbitration and litigation, commercial litigation and transactions. Ms. Harper represents broker-dealers and their employees throughout the United States on a variety of matters before the FINRA, NYSE, state and federal courts in connection with customer, intra industry and employment disputes, the purchase and sale of securities, as well as regulatory matters. She has successfully defended claims involving employment, suitability, churning, misappropriation, negligence, fiduciary duty and supervision concerning securities and insurance related products involving broker dealers, registered representatives and clearing firms.

She has also successfully handled contract, intellectual property and licensing matters on behalf of corporate and individual clients.

An ABA award-winning writer, Ms. Harper possesses a business and legal journalism background having served as a business reporter and legal editor for the New York Law Journal and an editor for the National Law Journal/ALM Marketing. Her feature articles have also appeared on NYLawyer.com, Law.com, New York Law Journal Magazine and in the Securities Arbitration Commentator.
Ms. Harper received her B.A. in Business Management from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts and J.D. from New York Law School (NYLS), where she was founding editor and publisher of the ABA award winning student publication “the L” and honored as NYLS’s nominated representative to the American Association for Justice's (formerly The Association of Trial Lawyers of America) Partnership in Advocacy Program. She served as a judicial extern to Senior Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas of the U.S. Court of International Trade and to the Manhattan Trial Unit of the New York City Law Department.

Prior to beginning her law career, she was involved with international business throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean.

Bar Admissions:
New York and New Jersey

Memberships:

President-Elect, Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Financial Women’s Association of New York, Inc. (FWA) (2011-2012); General Counsel, Board of Directors, Executive Committee (2010-2011).
Co-Chair, New York County Lawyers’ Association’s (NYCLA’s) Securities & Exchanges Committee; Co-Chair, NYCLA’s Women’s Rights Committee (2008-2011).
Member, New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Securities Litigation and Arbitration; CWIL Legislative Affairs Subcommittee.
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Securities Law, Regulation and Compliance, Henry Stewart Publication (since April 2009).
Midtown Regulatory Group (securities and compliance professionals).
The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York.

Publications:

"FINRA's 2010 Objectives," Bartiz & Colman's (B&C's) Securities Arbitration Regulation Bulletin, (January 2010).
"FINRA Issues New Internet Guidelines" B&C's Securities Regulatory and Compliance Bulletin, (January 2010).
"FINRA's New Motion to Dismiss Rules," B&C's Securities Arbitration Bulletin (January 2009).
"Highlights SIFMA Legal and Compliance January 2009 Luncheon," B&C's Securities Arbitration Regulation Bulletin.
"Networking," New York Law Journal Magazine (March 2009).
"Who is Lady Justice?" New York Law Journal Magazine (March 2008).
"When FINRA Speaks, Are You Listening?" Securities Arbitration Commentator (February 2008).
"Moments in History: 100-Year Timeline of New York Women in Law," New York Law Journal Magazine (March 2007).

Programs and CLE Events:

Organizer/CLE Moderator, "Women Trailblazers" featuring former New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye, Susan Blount, General Counsel, Prudential Financial, Inc., Sheila Davidson, General Counsel, New York Life, Inc., and Susan Merrill, former head of FINRA Enforcement (March 2011), hosted by the FWA, NYCLA and PwC. Media coverage by GlassHammer.com, Forbes magazine supplement.
Venue Organizer, "A Conversation with SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro with Maria Bartiromo of CNBC," hosted by FWA and New York Law School’s Center on Financial Services Law (June 2010). National media coverage by NBC, American Lawyer, Bloomberg, Thompson Reuters, GlassHammer.com.
Faculty, "Securities Arbitration: The New World Order" CLE Conference, Discovery and Arbitration Panel, New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Securities Litigation and Arbitration (November 2009).
Guest Lecturer/CLE, St. John’s University's School of Law, Securities Arbitration Clinic, "Evaluating Claims and Drafting Answers" (October 2009 & February 2011).
Moderator/CLE, "Everything You Wanted to Know about Getting and Serving on Non Profit Boards," NYCLA, (October 2009).
Organizer and Host: NYCLA's Edith I. Spivack Awards (2009-2011).
Legal Co-Chair, FWA's 2009 Annual Dinner.
Panelist, FWA Career Connections. Sponsored by Wachovia Bank (October 2008).
Organizer and Event Chair: Book Signing featuring United States Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, televised on C-SPAN Books at NYCLA (June 2008).
Organizer and Event Co-Chair (with F. Smith, UBS Financial Services), FWA and NYCLA, Speed Networking; and Speed Networking Mini Reunion. Sponsored by John Hancock Funds (October 2007, April 2008).
Organizer, CLE Moderator and Event Chair, "So You’ve Got That Referral, Now What?" General Counsels panel featuring Beth Dorfman, Esq., President of SIFMA Compliance & Legal Division, Bank of America, Nancy Gardner, Esq., General Counsel of Thomson Reuters and Deborah Kaye, Esq., Managing Counsel of Bank of New York/Mellon. NYCLA and FWA, Media Sponsor, ALM - New York Law Journal (April 2007).