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Profile
Areas of Practice

The Firm has handled numerous areas of complex trading litigation involving commodity futures and options, equity securities and options, foreign currency and options, collateralized mortgage obligations and collateralized debt obligations. The Firm has reviewed a number of cases involving auction rate securities. Over the years, the Firm has participated in numerous Commodity Futures Trading Commission and NFA enforcement investigations and litigation as well as Securities & Exchange Commission and FINRA investigations and litigation.

Firm Experience

The Firm is engaged in all phases of general commercial litigation, including class actions before federal and state courts, arbitration proceedings before securities and commodities exchanges and their regulatory counterparts, and administrative proceedings before federal government agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Firm specializes in all aspects of litigation in commodity futures, foreign currency and complex derivative financial instruments. Mr. Burke was the first in-house general counsel of the Commodity Exchange, Inc. and was a member of the New York Board of Trade, formerly the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange and New York Cotton Exchange, from 1984-2008. Mr. Burke has personal experience trading commodities and has concentrated his practice in the area of futures law since 1977.

Over the last twenty-five years Mr. Burke has tried over 100 commodity and securities-related arbitration cases before the New York Stock Exchange, National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (now FINRA), National Futures Association, American Stock Exchange, American Arbitration Association, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, Commodity Exchange, Inc., New York Mercantile Exchange, New York Cotton Exchange, New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange, Green Coffee Association and New York Futures Exchange. Mr. Burke has also represented lead plaintiffs in several futures-related class actions in the federal courts.

Arbitrator Experience

Mr Burke has chaired a number of panels before the NFA and New York Board of Trade where he was a member of the Arbitration Committee for over 15 years. Mr. Burke has served as an arbitrator in the following forums:

  • National Futures Association
  • New York Cotton Exchange
  • Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange
  • Finex Europe
  • New York Board of Trade
Law Firm Affiliations

The Firm has developed close working relationships with a number of firms throughout the world. The Firm has worked with national law firms in Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Portland. The Firm has worked with international law firms in Athens, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome and Zurich.