Offices: Florida

Thomas F. Shine has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1980 and has more than eighteen years of work experience with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., the Florida Department of Banking and Finance and in private practice protecting the rights of investors.

During the seven and half year period from June 1985 through December 1992, Tom fulfilled a long-term goal to work for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. Tom’s individual investigative efforts and his participation on teams with other investigators resulted in the SEC bringing enforcement actions against various persons and entities alleging: insider trading; stock and bond market manipulation schemes; and sales of unregistered securities. Tom’s SEC experiences were invaluable in teaching him about the various intricacies and mechanics of the securities markets and the securities industry along with the standards of conduct to which members of the industry are held.

From April 1993 through the present, Tom has worked in private practice in Melbourne, Florida area primarily representing individual investors with claims against broker-dealers and other sellers of financial services and products. Tom has been a member of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association since 1993, a nation-wide organization of attorneys who focus their practices on the representation of investors with claims against providers of financial services and products.

Since entering private practice, Tom has represented investors in numerous cases, including:

• Allegations of misrepresentations and failures to disclose material facts
• Unsuitable recommendations of risky securities and strategies:
• Speculative stocks and options, high yield securities
• Unsecured promissory notes
• Limited partnerships
• Collateralized mortgage obligations
• Trading on margin
• Failures to diversify assets among different asset categories and within individual asset categories
• Short-term trading in mutual funds
• Unsuitable recommendations of other financial services products (e.g., fixed annuities and viatical settlement contracts)
• Churning (excessive trading of stocks and life insurance)
• Inappropriate pension advice (ERISA claim)
• Loan schemes

Christopher T. Vernon is an A-V rated lawyer, which is the highest rating available to an attorney under the Martindale-Hubbell rating system. Mr. Vernon is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and The Florida Bar. He represents investors throughout the United States in Court and Arbitration against brokerage firms and other investment professionals.

Background

In addition to representing investors in Court and Arbitration, Mr. Vernon is an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), and the National Futures Association (NFA). He also regularly conducts advanced arbitrator training as part of the NASD training program.

Mr. Vernon regularly speaks to groups on investor’s rights and conducts Continuing Education for CPAs throughout Florida on the issue of investment fraud. He has appeared on TV, Radio and in print to discuss his views on investor rights and concerns regarding the securities industry.

Education

Mr. Vernon is a graduate of Florida State University (B.S. in Finance, cum laude) and Stetson University College of Law (Scholarship Recipient and member of Stetson Law Review). During law school he interned as a prosecutor with the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office and, after graduation, received an Outstanding Alumni Award from Stetson.