SHUSTAK REYNOLDS & PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Founder and Managing Partner of the Firm
- Member of IR Global
Erwin Shustak is the founder and Managing Partner of the Firm. He heads the Litigation and Arbitration Department, with over 45 years of extensive experience in diverse complex disputes and transactions, across the country and overseas. Mr. Shustak specializes in litigations, trials, arbitrations and appeals of complex securities, FINRA, financial and business disputes, with an emphasis in securities, financial services, and financial regulatory law.
Few attorneys have the depth and range of his legal experience and judgment. He has handled and overseen hundreds of litigations and arbitrations, in Federal and State Courts, and arbitration forums across the country. He has represented public and private companies of all kinds, including banks and other financial institutions; broker-dealers; registered investment advisors; advisory firms; securities brokers; private equity and hedge funds; governmental agencies, including the FDIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation; manufacturing firms in many industries; investment partnerships; and defrauded investors.
His vast trial and arbitration experience includes business, securities, and financial fraud; breach of contract; real estate transactions and disputes; employment disputes; unfair competition, noncompete and restrictive covenant cases; and intellectual property disputes including copyright and trademark infringement. He is a highly experienced and respected litigator as well as an ardent and effective negotiator.
Mr. Shustak began his career in New York City at the premier national law firm Kaye Scholer (now Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer). For over 30 years he has served as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers), often serving as Chair of the panels he has served on. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of San Diego; the New York, California State and San Diego County Bar Associations. Erwin also is a member of the Legal and Compliance Society of SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Erwin resides in Del Mar, California and travels extensively serving the Firm's clients. He is active in community organizations and generously gives his time and experience to various pro bono projects.
Erwin is an active member of IR Global, a leading international association of legal and accounting professionals, based in London, which provides our Firm with access to top professionals across the globe. Erwin is a member of the Disputes Committee of that organization.
Education
New York University School of Law, New York, New York
George C. Miller is a partner in the Firm's San Diego office. He has been recognized as one of the top securities and business litigation attorneys in San Diego, having represented clients in multi-million-dollar disputes in arbitration forums and courts across the country. Mr. Miller's practice focuses on securities arbitration and litigation, trade secret disputes, FINRA and SEC regulatory proceedings, and other disputes in the securities and financial services industry. Mr. Miller also represents clients in business and corporate litigation, employment litigation, contractual disputes, real property litigation and judgment enforcement proceedings. He has appeared before California state and federal courts, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), JAMS, and the AAA Arbitration Forum in trials, arbitrations, and mediations in California and elsewhere. Mr. Miller also serves as a neutral arbitrator through FINRA's dispute resolution forum.
From 2015 to 2021, George was selected as a Super Lawyers® "Rising Star," an award recognizing the top 2.5% of lawyers in California. In 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 he also was recognized as one of the "most outstanding lawyers in San Diego" by the San Diego Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" publication and was a semi-finalist for the San Diego Daily Transcript's "Top Attorneys" publication in 2013. Mr. Miller is a member of the California State and San Diego County Bar Associations, SIFMA Legal and Compliance division, the San Diego Financial Planners Association, ProVisors San Diego, and the San Diego Texas Exes alumni association.
Mr. Miller graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Government with a minor in Business. He attended Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and graduated summa cum laude, earning many "high-grade" awards throughout law school. Mr. Miller became a member of the Thomas Jefferson Law Review based on academic achievement and served as both an articles and notes editor.
Mr. Miller's past achievements and representative cases include the following:
Obtained $1.8 million arbitration award on behalf of former USAA wealth managers in securities industry employment dispute - Christopher Johnson and Lee Przybyla v. USAA Financial Advisors, Inc - FINRA Case No. 17-03279.
Obtained $5 million arbitration award on behalf of former Morgan Stanley financial advisors in securities industry employment and recruitment dispute - Todd Vitale and John Paladino v. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC, FINRA Case No. 11-01633.
Represented numerous financial advisors in proceedings against FINRA member firms involving claims for wrongful termination, breach of employment agreement and other, related claims.
Represented a large, registered investment advisor (RIA) team in multi-million dollar business divorce with former partners.
Represented top-producing financial advisor team in claims against prior firm involving nonpayment of deferred compensation and other benefits.
Represented corporations in international breach of contract disputes.
Represented numerous financial advisors in FINRA and SEC regulatory proceedings.
Represented numerous financial advisors in expungement proceedings and in negotiating U4 and U5 disclosure language.
Obtained pre-hearing dismissal of six-figure claim against brokerage firm client.
Represented large RIA firm and its principals in multi-million-dollar claim involving REIT investments.
Represented elderly couple defrauded by mortgage scheme and obtained favorable settlement.
Represented former financial advisor in wrongful termination litigation through completion of hearings, resulting in a favorable FINRA arbitration award.
Defended financial consultant in heavily contested litigation involving alleged professional negligence resulting in a dismissal of all claims and a subsequent favorable settlement.
Represented professional real estate investor in litigation involving fraud and price fixing.
Education
Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, California
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Senior Associate
Joseph Mellano is a senior associate attorney in the firm's San Diego office. Mr. Mellano's practice focuses on business, corporate, financial services and securities litigation and arbitrations.
Mr. Mellano received his BA from Brown University in Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship. While attending Brown, he was a four-year, NCAA Division I baseball letterman. Before attending law school, he was a substitute math and science teacher for multiple school districts in San Diego County and a volunteer baseball coach.
He graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2015 with concentrations in both business and corporate law and criminal litigation. During his time at USD, he received several scholarships and awards for his leadership and academic achievement, including the 2014 Alec Cory Endowed Scholarship and a CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Corporations. He was a Constitutional Law and Tort Law Teaching Fellow, a member of the USD's Appellate Moot Court Executive Board and National Competition Team, and the Chief Student Comments Editor for the San Diego International Law Journal. Before joining Shustak Reynolds & Partners, Mr. Mellano was an associate attorney at a boutique litigation firm in San Diego.
When not working tirelessly on behalf of the firm's clients, Mr. Mellano enjoys watching and playing baseball, improving his golf game, and running reasonable distances at a leisurely pace. In addition to his work for the firm, he is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the USD School of Law, where he instructs students competing in appellate moot court national competitions.
Education
University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego, California
Katherine S. Bowles is a partner in the firm's San Diego office. She joined the firm in 2015. Ms. Bowles's practice focuses on business and corporate litigation, securities and business arbitrations, and employment litigation.
Ms. Bowles graduated magna cum laud from Rutgers University where she majored in Ceramic and Materials Engineering. At Rutgers, Ms. Bowles was an executive member of Rutgers Dance Marathon which raises money for the Embrace Kids Foundation. She then attended California Western School of Law, where she was the Executive Lead Articles Editor for the California Western Law Review. During law school, Ms. Bowles served as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable William McCurine, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California and worked as a Summer Associate at Proskauer's Boston office in their patent group.
Lauren White is the firm's Office Administrator. She works closely with managing partner, Erwin J. Shustak, to oversee the administrative and financial operations of the firm. She has close to 20 years of successful legal support experience in a wide range of roles. She also attended the University of San Diego where she earned a paralegal certificate with honors.
Lauren is originally from Big Bear Lake and in her free time enjoys photography, gardening, and sunset strolls along Mission Bay.
Education
University of San Diego, San Diego, California
Paralegal Certificate, High Honors, 2008
Paul Reynolds is a Partner based in the firm's San Diego office. He has specialized, and practiced exclusively, in securities and complex business litigation for over 25 years.
Robert D. Conca is a partner in the Firm's San Diego office. Mr. Conca has broad experience in a wide variety of corporate and securities matters, including financial-services and regulatory issues where he focuses on providing strategic and comprehensive legal counsel to investment advisers, broker-dealers, private equity and hedge funds, financial institutions, and other financial professionals. Mr. Conca routinely advises clients on all aspects of regulatory registration, registered investment adviser and broker-dealer formation, SEC, state and FINRA examinations, regulatory compliance, advisor transitions including Form U5, disclosure, and expungement matters, corporate transactions including, but not limited to, mergers and acquisitions, asset and stock purchase/sale transactions, private placements, crowd-funding, succession planning, solicitation and marketing activities, and financial industry regulatory filings (Forms ADV, CRS, PF, and others). He also has extensive experience providing guidance regarding business transitions/breakaways.
Mr. Conca previously served as the Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary of an international private equity family of companies with billions of dollars under management, where he oversaw legal, regulatory, and compliance functions for four affiliated SEC-registered investment advisers, including funds registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. He has counseled executive management and boards of directors on strategy, corporate, regulatory, and governmental issues, and coordinated expansion of operations and legal processes in Asia and Europe.
Mr. Conca attended the University of California, Berkeley where he majored in Psychology and minored in Conservation and Resource Studies. While attending Cal, he was a four-year member of the Cal Men's Volleyball team. Mr. Conca went on to receive his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Mr. Conca's prior law firm experience includes working at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, based in Los Angeles. Mr. Conca is admitted to The State Bar of California and is a member of the San Diego Bar Association.
Education
Loyola School of Law, Los Angeles, California