Royce O. Griffin

 (Deceased)                            Home

One of the firm's two founding partners, Royce O. Griffin, died in 2005.  Although greatly missed,  his legal career was quite remarkable.  He is missed by all of us and by many clients, friends and colleagues.  The quality and expertise that he instilled in this firm will always continue.

Biography

2000 - 2003: General Counsel, North American Securities Administrators Association

Duties: Managed six person legal staff in all aspects of non-profit's legal activities, including preparation of position papers, amicus briefs, legislative advice, regulatory comments, guideline drafting, etc. Served as counsel to the Broker-Dealer and Corporation Finance Sections. Handle all internal legal matters such as personnel, benefits, etc. Conceived and recommended structure and composition of multi-state task force to investigate research analyst conflict-of-interest cases against the major investment banks. Served as counsel to the steering committee that produced the templates for state settlement documents.

1999 - 2000: Consultant and expert witness on Securities Fraud and Regulation

1992 - 1999: Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Arkansas

Duties: Day-to-day management of all legal, fiscal and administrative operations of the Attorney General's Office; counsel in major litigation.

1991 Deputy Attorney General for the State of Arkansas

Duties: Deputy in charge of Consumer Protection/Antitrust Division; managed all consumer protection and antitrust litigation, legislative and education programs of the Arkansas Attorney General.

1990 Special Counsel, New Mexico Securities Division

Duties: Employed on a ten-month contract to comprehensively rewrite the Rules of the New Mexico Securities Division. Conceived and filed the first state action in the Drexel bankruptcy litigation.

1987 - 1989: Senior Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives - Telecommunications and Finance Subcommittee

Duties: Senior legislative analyst charged with developing contents of major finance legislation; subject matter responsibility for insider trading, market reform (in response to October, 1987 market crash) and arbitration reform; primary responsibility for oversight proceedings concerning the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the EDGAR project.

1981 - 1987: Securities Commissioner, State of Colorado

Duties: Administrator of the Colorado Securities Act; Hearing Officer for all securities administrative hearings; referral of matters for criminal and civil prosecution; legislative drafting and testimony; budget preparation and responsibility; management of the Division of Securities.

1981 Assistant Securities Commissioner, State of Arkansas

Duties: Management of the Registration (corporate finance) and Administration sections of the Arkansas Securities Department.

1977 - 1980: Deputy Attorney General, State of Arkansas

Duties: Deputy in charge of Antitrust Division; author of U.S. Department of Justice grant which created Antitrust Division within the Attorney General's Office; attorney-of-record for state in substantial litigation, including complex and multi-state federal cases, public utility proceedings and constitutional challenges.

1976 - 1977: Senior Law Clerk, Federal District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, Honorable Terry L. Shell, District Judge

1974 - 1976: Associate, Owens, McHaney and McHaney

Duties: Commercial litigation.

EDUCATION

1970: Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Degree: Bachelor of Arts, History

1974: University of Texas Law School Degree: Juris Doctorate Texas Law Review Top Score Trial Advocacy, Spring, 1974

RELATED ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS

· President, North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (NASAA), 1985-1986. · Board of Directors, NASAA, 1985-1987. · Chairman, NASAA Enforcement Section, 1983-1985. · Chairman, NASAA Multinational Securities Offerings Committee, 1986-1987. · Recipient of the NASAA Blue Sky Cube, the associations highest award recognizing contributions to the improvement of state securities regulation. · NASAA representative to Securities Industry Conference on Arbitration, 2001, 2002. · Member of the Board of Directors and Secretary/Treasurer, National Council of Individual Investors, 1995-1997. · Official Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) Committee to Draft a Revised Uniform Securities Act, 1983-1987. · Member of NASAA team advising NCCUSL on the Uniform Securities Act of 2002. · Panelist, SEC Roundtables (1986) on Rumors, Market Halts and Insider Trading and Securities Surveillance and Enforcement Programs. · Co-chairman (3 times) State/SEC 19c Conference (for enforcement issues). · Member, Advisory Board, National Futures Association. · Testimony on securities legislation before Congress, and state legislative bodies or administrative task forces in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, Utah, New Jersey, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Nevada and Alberta, Canada. · Expert witness and securities consultant in private practice from 1991-2000. · Frequent speaker before federal, state and private-sector forums; represented congressional subcommittee before groups of corporate counsel, academia, and industry regulators and on C-Span.