Anne C. Flannery is a senior counsel in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Her practice focuses on a variety of securities enforcement and litigation matters, including investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA and state securities regulators for potential securities fraud, trading and sales practice violations and related supervisory issues.
Ms. Flannery has handled numerous complex matters on behalf of financial institutions, public companies, and individuals in investigations and litigation with securities regulators, including contested hearings and appeals. Ms. Flannery also has extensive experience in conducting internal investigations, counseling broker-dealers on regulatory and compliance issues, acting as an independent consultant to firms and representing clients in general federal civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense matters relating to securities issues.
Ms. Flannery originally joined Morgan Lewis in October 1987 after a successful career as a senior official in the SEC 's Washington, D.C. and New York offices. As a Morgan Lewis partner in the firm's securities practice, she achieved significant success for clients, while also serving on the Governing Board of the firm for several years. In 1999, Ms. Flannery left Morgan Lewis to join Merrill Lynch's Office of General Counsel. At Merrill, she held several senior positions, including First Vice President and General Counsel for Global Regulatory Affairs. During part of her tenure at Merrill Lynch, Ms. Flannery also served as the global head of compliance.
Ms. Flannery writes and lectures frequently on regulatory and enforcement issues. She is co-chair of the SRO Subcommittee of the ABA Litigation Section Securities Committee, former co-chair of the ABA Securities Litigation Committee, a former member of the NYSE Legal Advisory Committee, the NASD Membership Committee, and the SIA Compliance and Legal Division Executive Committee. While at the SEC, she was a recipient of both the Irving M. Pollack Award and a Distinguished Senior Executive Service Award.
Ms. Flannery is a cum laude graduate of both Brooklyn Law School and Marymount Manhattan College. She is a past chair and current trustee of the Board of Trustees for Marymount Manhattan College.
