Financial services law firm Murphy & McGonigle will serve as a sponsor of the "Women, Diversity & Change on Wall Street" virtual summit. Katherine McGrail, the firm’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, will be speaking on the panel, "Representation: Diversifying the Talent Pipeline at Every Level." This panel takes place from 10:15 am to 11 am ET on October 6.

Stephen Gannon and Lisa Weingarten Richards of the firm’s Banking & Financial Services Practice authored an article titled "How Bitcoin Can Favorably Impact Climate Change (Despite What You May Have Heard)" for the Virginia Bankers Association. The team describes that the depiction of Bitcoin’s solely negative impact on the climate is inaccurate, and it neglects the current use of renewable energy used in the mining process. Emerging technologies are being introduced to make the process even cleaner, such as a natural gas vent capture facility in West Texas.

On September 24, 2021, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a no-action position with regard to the application of Rule 15c2-11 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Rule) to debt securities.   The no-action position provides a welcome respite to the securities industry as it endeavors to implement organizational and systems changes to achieve compliance with the compliance date of September 28, 2021 for significant amendments to the Rule.  The Staff states that it will not recommend enforcement action to the SEC under the amended Rule "until January 3, 2022 for quotations published by broker-dealers for fixed income securities."

Financial services law firm Murphy & McGonigle announced today the appointment of two attorneys as new Office Managing Partners (OMP) at the Firm. Katherine McGrail, litigation shareholder and the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, becomes the new Office Managing Partner of the Virginia office, and litigation shareholder Andrew Melnick will serve as Office Managing Partner of the firm’s headquarters New York office. Both attorneys will also serve on the Firm’s Executive Committee, along with Elizabeth Lan Davis, Chair of Murphy & McGonigle; Tom McGonigle, Office Managing Partner of the Washington, DC office; and New York shareholder Leonard Amoruso.

Our earlier Client Alert described the amendments to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rule 6432 that were adopted in light of the SEC’s amendments to Rule 15c2-11 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.   FINRA has issued Regulatory Notice 21-33 to specify its content and filing requirements for the standard Form 211 (filed by broker-dealer members) and the modified Form 211 and daily security file (filed by member Qualified Interdealer Quotation Systems).  

Recently there has been considerable discussion, debate, and confusion as to whether Rule 15c2-11 (Rule) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) applies to debt securities.   Although this article does not address the extent to which Rule 15c2-11 does or should apply to debt securities in general, it does focus on whether the Rule applies to one group of fixed income securities, namely "government securities" as defined in Section 3(a)(12)(A)(i) of the Exchange Act.   It concludes that, based on statutory structure, precedent, and policy, the Rule does not apply to such securities.