Michael R. Koblenz

Michael R. Koblenz has years of experience in litigation and general corporate law; commodities, securities, administrative proceedings, arbitrations, directors and officers liability cases, real estate, entertainment law, and regulatory matters. Mr. Koblenz has provided advice on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Law. The practice includes hedge funds, mergers, acquisitions, and private and public offerings. Mr. Koblenz has represented commodities futures exchanges, clearing organizations, and broker/dealers as well as individual traders and brokers.

Having served as a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice, Mr. Koblenz also engages in the defense of white-collar criminal cases involving violations under the Sherman Antitrust Act, securities, commodities, telemarketing, and postal fraud. He defends corporate and individual clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the National Futures Association, the U.S. Postal Inspector Service, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the New York State Human Rights Commission.

Mr. Koblenz is a Registered Legal Practitioner in the DIFC Courts (Dubai), He is also qualified as a mediator in both state and federal courts as a PDSL, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and International Mediation Institute (IMI)-qualified Mediator as well as qualified as a Southern District Mediator.

Honors

• Martindale-Hubbell, 1992-2023: Rated AV Preeminent for 31 Years (highest rating in legal ability and ethical standards); AV Peer Review Rated
• Who's Who: Finance and Industry; American Law; Emerging Leaders in America
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (LCA)
• Recognized in Super Lawyers, New York Metro, Business/Corporate, 2012-2023
• Recognized in Super Lawyers, New Jersey, Business Litigation

Memberships

• Board of Directors of the Long Island Insurance Community (LIIC)
• National Council for Arts & Sciences, Columbian School of George Washington University
• Diversity Law Institute
• The Trial Law Institute
• New York County Lawyers’ Association
• International Bar Association

Selected Activities

• Mediator, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Mr. Koblenz is Mayor of the Village of East Hills, Long Island, NY. He is credited with successfully acquiring the Roslyn Air National Guard property for the village, which was the subject of a New York Times story on December 24, 2000 and a Newsday story on January 21, 2001, in which Newsday called it “The ‘Deal of the Century'”

Career Highlights

• Graduate of Federal Bureau of Investigation Citizens’ Academy, New York Division Community Outreach
• Graduate of Nassau County Police Department, Citizen’s Police Academy
• Recipient of the Burton 2014 Distinguished Legal Writing Award.
• Honoree at the 11th Annual Woodbury Ball for Autism
• Former Federal Prosecutor, US Department of Justice
• Former Special Assistant US Attorney, Northern District of Illinois
• Former Assistant Director of Enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Former Regional Counsel for the Eastern Regional Office of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Served as a director of Globe International Life Insurance Company, among others

Newsroom

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, “Conflicts of Interest at Credit Rating Agencies,” Ross Roundtable, The Vincent C. Ross Institute of Accounting Research, New York University’s Stern School of Business, April 5, 2011
• Speaker, “Regulating Broker-Dealers and Other Investment Entities,” Ross Roundtable, 2009
• In October 2006, Mr. Koblenz presented a full day program on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and is frequently called upon to speak on corporate matters