Who We Are

About Michael Shaw

Michael is an experienced transactional, regulatory, and litigation attorney. He advises business owners on company structure, and drafts formation documents, buy-sell agreements, shareholder agreements, and customer contracts.

Michael possesses particular expertise in advising businesses that operate in the financial services industry. He represents investment advisers, broker-dealers, and investment funds, as well as their officers, executives, and financial advisors on a broad range of regulatory compliance, securities enforcement, commercial disputes, and employment-related matters in state court, arbitration, and mediation forums, and enforcement proceedings before the SEC, FINRA, and State securities regulators. Michael also advises clients on transactional matters such as the purchase/sale of client assets, and the formation and registration of an independent investment advisory firm. He prepares clients for regulatory examinations, and provides guidance on sales practice and supervisory procedures, as well as securities regulations such as Reg S-P and Regulation Best Interest.

Michael has significant experience advising financial advisors on ethical standards associated with financial services designations, including the Certified Financial Planner certification (CFP®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), Certified investment Management Analyst (CIMA®), and others. 

In 2014, Michael formed The Shaw Law Group, a boutique national law firm that focuses on serving the legal needs of financial services firms, and other businesses. Michael previously worked as a partner in the business practice group of a regional law firm in Maryland. Before entering private practice, Michael served as an in-house regulatory and corporate governance attorney with FINRA, and as Managing Director of Legal, Compliance, and Enforcement at CFP Board. Prior to law school, Michael was a financial advisor for many years.

Legal Practice Areas

• Business and Commercial Litigation
• Data Privacy & Security
• Expungements
• Financial Services Regulatory Compliance
• Intellectual Property
• Securities Enforcement, White Collar Crime and Government Investigations

Certifications and Designations

• Certified Regulatory Compliance Professional (CRCP)
  — FINRA Institute at Wharton
• Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
  — The American College of Financial Services
• Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)
  — The American College of Financial Services
• Formerly Series 6 and 7 licensed

Bar Admissions

• Maryland
• District of Columbia

Education

• J.D., The Catholic University of America, 1993
• B.S., Economics, Marquette University, 1984

Associations

• Maryland State Bar Association
  — Committee on Corporation Law & Committee on Securities Law
• District of Columbia Bar Association
  — Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Section
• Exit Planning Exchange (XPX Maryland)
• Financial Planning Association of Maryland
• NAPFA Study Group (Baltimore)
• ProVisors Group Leader (Baltimore2)
• Business Opportunity Network (BON)
• Board Member, Lead 4 Life
• Member, National Society of Compliance Professionals
• President, CFA Society Baltimore
• Vice President, Associated Italian American Charities (AIAC)

Accolades

• Center for Creative Leadership (2011)
• NASD President’s Award (2006) for his service on the implementation teams for:
  — NASD SOX 404 Compliance (2005)
  — NASD AMEX Transaction (2004)

Community Leadership

• Associated Italian American Charities (AIAC), Vice President
• CFA Society of Baltimore Board of Directors, President
• Hibernian Society of Baltimore

News and Publications

• Keys to Being an Effective Lawyer for Your Client, BON presentation (February 2021)
• Are you a Fiduciary? Podcast with James Pessagno, financial planner with CIC Wealth (June 2020)
• Regulation Best Interest: Higher Standards for Broker-Dealers, Strengthened Protections for Investors, Baltimore Business Review (January 2020)
• Common Compliance Failures – FPA Maryland Fall Symposium, Columbia, MD presentation (November 2018)
  Overview of Financial Services Regulatory Compliance, Enforcement Defense, and Arbitration Practice — LFA Business Law Community presentation (October 2018)
• Who is a Fiduciary, Why it Matters, and Tips for Compliance Risk Management, Co-Authored with Brian Nally, Esq., Presented at The Eagle Conference, Philadelphia, PA (September 2018)
• How Financial Advisors Can Avoid Compliance Failures: A Review of the SEC’s 2018 Examination Priorities NAPFA, webinar presentation and NAPFA Study Group presentation (April 2018)
• New GDPR Guidelines for Companies, Co-authored with Matthew J. Youssef, Esq. (June 2018)

Representative Cases

• Successfully negotiated the IRS’s dismissal of $247,000 in penalties imposed on a non-profit for alleged failure to report three consecutive years of earnings in its 401(k) plan.
• Secured a FINRA arbitration award granting expungement of four customer complaints from a broker’s public disclosure record by proving the broker could not have been involved in two of the alleged sales practice violations, and the information underlying the two other customer complaints was false.
• Advised client on financing the purchase of an investment property by using qualified retirement plan (IRA) funds as the initial capital contribution without incurring penalty for early withdrawal.
• Persuaded FINRA to close its investigation with no adverse findings or disciplinary actions against a financial advisor who was alleged, over an 18-year period, to have sold several million dollars in fixed annuities without disclosing such sales as an outside business activity.