Illinois native Robert Harvey and Florida native Debra Jenks are a Palm Beach power couple. The West Palm Beach residents and securities attorneys practice in a vast and unique niche within the law, one unfamiliar to many. It’s not surprising then that they often answer the question, “What does that mean?” when they tell people what they do. Robert says, “For us, it means we’re either defending financial advisors and brokerage firms against lawsuits filed by customers or actions taken against them by regulators, or we’re representing customers. Our firm is unusual because we handle both sides. That’s why Debra and I started Jenks and Harvey in 2015—to allow us to pursue plaintiffs’ cases.”
Although their firm is located at 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. in West Palm Beach, their litigation, compliance, and regulatory advisory cases take them everywhere, from San Juan to San Francisco and from Tampa to Cleveland.
“The business we are involved in as lawyers is so highly regulated that there are different places you must go for dispute resolution,” Debra explains. “When a customer opens an account, or somebody goes to work for an independent broker-dealer, wirehouse firm, or discount broker-dealer, they have an obligation to arbitrate disputes. Firms must arbitrate disputes between each other. And most of these arbitrations go to a forum called FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. As a litigation firm, we defend our clients once the regulators like FINRA, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), and state regulators come after them.”
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