Overview
Natalie Napierala represents investment advisers, broker-dealers, executives, and public companies in SEC informal and formal orders of investigation and enforcement actions. She also defends member firms and associated persons in FINRA regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, and FINRA appeals. In the past several years alone, she has managed more than 70 productions to the SEC and FINRA.
She has experience responding to requests under 17 C.F.R. § 200.83, the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (FOIA), including the release of deposition transcripts and exhibits, in agency, regulatory, and governmental matters.
She advises broker-dealers and associated persons on Form U4/U5 matters, including BrokerCheck disputes.
Natalie provides counsel to financial institutions on their possible immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in litigation and turnover proceedings in federal court, as well as responding to subpoenas. For example, she defended the New York branch of an Indian bank in a $350 million RICO claim involving complex factual and procedural Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act issues in one of the few matters in which a foreign sovereign doing business in the United States has prevailed on FSIA immunity grounds over a “commercial activity exception” argument involving wire transfers.
Natalie has acted as outside general counsel to a publicly traded company, advising its senior executive officers, board of directors, and committees. She has provided counsel on threatened and filed litigation, corporate governance, executive compensation, fiduciary duties, and disclosure obligations under federal securities laws, among other subjects.
She is also a resource to her clients and colleagues on complex issues relating to the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.
Distinguishing her legal skill and attention to detail, clients appreciate Natalie’s clarity of advice and strength in collaboration, strategy, and creating a roadmap from inception to resolution.
Natalie is a shareholder in the firm’s New York office, which she opened in 2012. She earned her MBA at Columbia Business School and her LL.M. at Georgetown Law. In 2017, she was selected to the prestigious Fulbright Specialist Roster for a four-year tenure, which was extended until fall 2022.
Natalie has been selected for inclusion in the Lawyers of Distinction, the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, New York Metro Super Lawyers’ list of Top Women Attorneys in the New York Metro, and New York Metro Super Lawyers.
Natalie is passionate about pro bono work and criminal justice issues. She is the co-chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee, the secretary of the NYC Bar’s Criminal Advocacy Committee, and supports numerous animal rights organizations. She is a classical pianist with a love of classical music. When she is not in her home base of New York City, she can be found traveling internationally, with recent trips to the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Baltic Sea, and the Aegean Sea.