Lisa A. Catalano is a Professor of Clinical Education at St.
John’s University School of Law and the Director of the Securities
Arbitration Clinic since 2006. The Securities Arbitration Clinic
offers free student representation to investors in arbitration
claims involving misrepresentation, unsuitability, unauthorized
trading, excessive trading (“churning”), and failure to supervise,
among other claims, against broker-dealers and registered
representatives. The Clinic student interns handle all phases of
the client representation under the supervision of Professor
Catalano. The student interns also conduct Investor Education
Seminars in the community to educate the public about their rights
as investors and ways in which to protect themselves against
fraudulent practices. Additionally, Professor Catalano and her
students have submitted comment letters to the Securities and
Exchange Commission regarding proposed rule changes to the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) arbitration
rules.
Immediately prior to joining St. John’s in 2006, Professor
Catalano was a Senior Partner at the firm of Davidson &
Grannum, LLP, a firm specializing in representing and counseling
corporate and individual clients in four practice areas:
broker-dealer arbitrations, mediations and litigations; employment
law counseling, EEOC and state agency matters, mediations,
arbitrations and litigations; securities regulatory matters; and
commercial disputes. She spent seven years at Davidson &
Grannum. Prior to that, Professor Catalano spent five years at UBS
Financial Services Inc. (f/k/a PaineWebber Incorporated). She was a
Corporate Vice President and Assistant General Counsel in UBS’s
Litigation Department where she handled securities arbitration
claims brought by the firm’s customers against the firm and its
registered representatives. Professor Catalano has also handled
industry disputes involving raiding and recruiting matters and
promissory note cases.
Professor Catalano has extensive experience representing
broker-dealers and brokers in customer disputes, regulatory
investigations, and collection and employment matters, and has
conducted numerous arbitration hearings, mediations, training
sessions and seminars. She also serves on the National Arbitration
and Mediation Committee (NAMC), the FINRA Investor Advocacy Clinic
Grant Program Committee, as a FINRA arbitrator, she is the Chair of
PIABA’s Amicus Curiae Committee and serves on PIABA’s Legislation
Advisory Board. Professor Catalano has published in law reviews and
journals in the areas of securities arbitration, dispute resolution
and investor protection. She received her J.D. cum laude
from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City.