Costa, Susan

Timothy Perla is a counsel in the firm's Securities and Litigation Departments, a member of the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group and a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Working Group. He joined the firm in 2005.

Practice

Mr. Perla's practice focuses on securities, insurance, financial services and commercial litigation, including SEC, FINRA and other regulatory enforcement matters. He has represented banks, broker dealers, investment companies, insurance companies, issuers of securities, corporate officers, and securities and insurance professionals charged with violations of state and federal laws. He has litigated around the country in securities fraud class actions, insurance sales class actions, insurance and securities suitability disputes, derivative litigation, mergers and acquisitions disputes, and contract and licensing disputes, His regulatory practice has encompassed wide-ranging matters, including those relating to options backdating, accounting improprieties, market timing, failures to supervise, disclosure, sales practices and suitability issues.

Mr. Perla has also served as lead trial counsel on a variety of criminal cases tried to juries and to judges while acting as a Special Assistant District Attorney.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Perla clerked for the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton, United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts.

While in law school, Mr. Perla worked for the Boston District Office of the SEC. He graduated summa cum laude from Boston University School of Law and received the Alumni Award for achieving the highest grade point average in his class. While serving as Article Editor for the Boston University Law Review, Mr. Perla published an article that has been cited as persuasive authority by the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the US District Court For the District of Massachusetts, and has been included in a training publication distributed nationally by the federal government to prosecutors.

Recent Highlights

• Represented a major insurance company in cases around the country alleging fraud and unsuitability with respect to sales of equity-indexed annuities
• Dismissal of a shareholder derivative action alleging that a corporate officer engaged in stock options backdating
• Dismissal of a class action alleging that an insurance company violated ERISA by improperly offering variable annuities to plan participants
• Dismissal of a class action challenging the nationwide sale of annuities to seniors
• Denial of a preliminary injunction seeking to prevent a pharmaceutical company from entering into a merger agreement
• Conclusion of investigations by regulatory authorities including the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division of clients accused of stock options backdating, market timing, unsuitable insurance sales, and fraud
• Dismissal of cases and appeals against a corporation alleging copyright infringement and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Completion of internal investigations of accounting improprieties on behalf of non-public companies

Professional Activities

Mr. Perla is a co-chair of the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Committee of the Litigation Section of the Boston Bar Association. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association.