G. Wayne Hillis, Jr.

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® “Lawyer of the Year,” Litigation - Banking & Finance, Atlanta, 2023 “Lawyer of the Year,” Litigation - Labor & Employment, Atlanta, 2016 Commercial Litigation, 2010-2025 Litigation - Banking & Finance, 2022-2025 Labor & Employment Law, 2011-2025 Litigation - Securities, 2011-2025 Listed in Georgia Super Lawyers, 2005-2006, 2013-2024 Listed in Strathmore’s Who’s Who, 2009-2023 American Bar Foundation, Fellow Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, Fellow Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent Rated Atlanta Bar Association’s Minority & Diversity Clerkship Program, Distinguished Service Award, 2012 Serve as counsel for multiple financial advisors in SEC and FINRA regulatory inquiries relating to the use of “off channel” communications. Represent national broker-dealer client in multiple FINRA arbitrations asserting various legal claims relating to losses incurred on structured note investments. Represented broker-dealer client in suit brought in a Georgia state court and obtained order compelling arbitration, which was affirmed by the Georgia Court of Appeals. Served as lead counsel in representing a broker-dealer in an industry dispute defending claims by a former salesperson for contractual and quasi contractual claims for unpaid bonus compensation. Represented broker-dealer client in two-year FINRA investigation resulting in an unreportable letter of caution. Served as lead counsel in three separate state court suits arising out of a complex series of trusts and estate disputes. Represented a Florida-based broker in defense of a suit filed in federal court asserting a fraudulent conveyance and aiding and abetting breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims. Represented the wealth division of a national broker-dealer client in defense of a FINRA arbitration asserting claims based on fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and conversion. Served as lead counsel for a broker-dealer client in a FINRA arbitration brought by a former customer asserting claims of unsuitability, churning and negligent supervision. Served as lead coordinating counsel and lead trial counsel in more than 150 FINRA arbitrations involving several open-end and closed-end high-yield bond funds. Served as lead counsel on behalf of a national broker-dealer client in a series of FINRA arbitrations arising out of the departure of multiple employees following the client’s sale of its wealth division. The team filed individual arbitrations to recover amounts owed by former employees and defended against their various employment-related counterclaims. The team was successful in recovering over $16 million for the client and defeating more than $17 million in claims against the client. Represented a national broker-dealer in defense of a FINRA arbitration filed by a former employee of the client alleging wrongful termination, U-5 defamation, and disparate treatment. The former employee sought over $11 million in compensatory and punitive damages. After the claimant rested, the panel unanimously granted the client’s motion to dismiss and denied the claimant’s claims in their entirety. Served as lead counsel for a broker-dealer client in a series of cases arising out of a third party’s alleged Ponzi scheme. The broker-dealer client successfully defeated claims filed in federal district court in New York and California and in three FINRA arbitrations and recovered attorneys’ fees in two of the arbitrations. Represented a financial advisor and successfully defeated claims brought by the advisor’s former client for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and violation of New York’s deceptive acts and practices acts. The claimant sought to recover over $665,000 plus punitive damages. After more than a year of arbitration proceedings before FINRA, the claimant dismissed the claim with prejudice and recovered nothing. Represented a financial advisor in defense of an enforcement proceeding brought by FINRA’s Enforcement Department. As a result, the client received only a cautionary action letter, which is one of FINRA’s least serious enforcement penalties. Served as lead trial counsel and lead coordinating counsel in more than 700 arbitrations involving limited partnerships arising out of a settlement between the SEC and the broker-dealer client.