Overview
Natalie Napierala represents investment advisers, executives, and public companies in SEC informal and formal orders of investigation. She also defends member firms and associated persons in FINRA regulatory investigations. In the past several years alone, she has managed more than 70 productions to the SEC and FINRA. She is also a resource to her clients and colleagues on complex issues relating to the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.
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.
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 has been 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, and the Baltic Sea.
- FINRA and SEC Enforcement
Natalie routinely serves as lead counsel in government and regulatory investigations, including criminal investigations. She has managed complex investigations and actions involving dozens of interviews and formal testimony and the production and analysis of tens of thousands of documents, and has negotiated in complex and dynamic settings under time pressure.
Natalie has represented senior executive officers in high-profile securities fraud lawsuits in federal court and administrative fora. Her representations include a former Sunbeam executive in an SEC investigation, an SEC enforcement action, and a national class action securities fraud lawsuit. She also represented a former Kmart executive in an SEC investigation, national class action securities fraud lawsuit, and a complex business dispute brought by Kmart's bankruptcy creditors' committee.
In addition, she advises registered representatives and member firms on FINRA Conduct Rules, including BrokerCheck disputes and Form U4/U5 issues, and has defended individuals in FINRA regulatory proceedings and arbitrations.
- Receiverships
Natalie serves as the receiver’s counsel in several receiverships created under the Commodity Exchange Act and venued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In this role, she investigates complex financial fraud schemes and traces assets, negotiates and litigates to recover assets, negotiates and resolves receivership liabilities, supervises the creation of expert reports, and implements asset allocation plans compensating defrauded victims.
- Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
In her representation of financial institutions, Natalie advises on legal issues that include immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the potential for federal and state court jurisdiction over foreign branches and their assets. She also represents a foreign sovereign bank in turnover proceedings involving blocked funds pursuant to OFAC.
- Outside General Counsel
For more than 10 years, 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.
- Freedom of Information Act Requests
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 is familiar with the procedural and substantive federal case law on FOIA and certain exemptions thereunder, and has prepared Confidential Treatment Request Substantiations arguing that documents or information should be withheld in their entirety because it is protected from disclosure under FOIA Exemptions 4, 6, 7(B), and/or 7(C), as well as arguing for the redaction of personal and private information under FOIA Exemptions 6 and 7(C).
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