Chernenko, Marc B

Melanie S. Cherdack has over 25 years experience as a securities litigator. Prior to joining the Firm, she was Assistant General Counsel to PaineWebber Incorporated, now known as UBS. She primarily represents individual investors in arbitrations before FINRA (formerly known as NASD and NYSE). In addition Ms. Cherdack has represented clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA on regulatory matters. Ms. Cherdack has also successfully represented brokers in complex securities and employment arbitration proceedings. She currently serves as an arbitrator for FINRA and the National Futures Association.

Ms. Cherdack is actively involved in the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, where she advocates on behalf of individual investors and is a former member of the Securities Arbitration Association. She is a frequent speaker and lecturer on securities arbitration, and has authored numerous articles on emerging trends in this area. She has appeared as a guest lecturer and prepared course materials used by the University of Miami Investor Rights Clinic and other laws school securities arbitration clinics.

Ms. Cherdack served as an editor for the PIABA Law Journal and has published numerous articles on securities arbitration. These include articles for the Practicing Law Institute’s Annual Securities Arbitration Seminars the PIABA Bar Journal entitled "Drafting a Securities Arbitration Claim: The Pen is (Still) Mightier than the Market" in 2012;  “Auction Rate Securities: The New Frontier,” in 2008, “Here’s How You Resonate With Us: Suggestions from an Arbitrator to Practitioners,” in 2007; “Blame The Ugly American: Representing The International Investor In A Securities Arbitration,” in 2006; “Mutual Fund Sales Abuses,” in 2004; “‘Pay or Play’ Offers Of Judgment: Are They Applicable To Arbitration Proceedings?” and “Should I Sue My Stock Broker? Pitfalls A Practitioner Faces When Naming The Individual Broker In An Arbitration,” in 2003; and “Drafting A Securities Arbitration Claim: The Pen is Mightier Than the Market,” in 2002.

She is active in Cancer Link, a charity supporting the University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center. Ms. Cherdack was the recipient of the Dade County Bar Association "Pro Bono Award" in both 1992 and 1994 for her creation of and participation in a downtown small claims clinic. She also served as a founding board member and counsel to The Heiken Children’s Vision Fund, a charity providing eye care to Miami-Dade County school children which is now operated by the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind.

Ms. Cherdack was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1985, and the New York Bar in 1988. In 1985, she received her Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of Florida College, where she was the Senior Student Works Editor of the University of Florida Law Review. Ms. Cherdack also received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Journalism at the University of Florida.