Edward Wiest has been engaged in the independent practice of law in Greater Boston since 1997, continuing his longtime work in commercial and business litigation and alternate dispute resolution. Since his formation of Edward R. Wiest, P.C., Mr. Wiest has participated (both individually and working with other attorneys) in the prosecution, defense and trial of cases over a wide range of issues, including disputes involving
- The allocation of disability insurance commissions between a brokerage and one of its former employees
- The question of whether the principals of a defunct securities broker-dealer firm, its clearing broker, or an individual who was both a customer and investor in the firm were to be responsible for trading losses incurred during its operation
- Claims of employment discrimination, retaliation and libel asserted by a schoolteacher
- The liability of an investment partnership’s auditors for losses arising out of embezzlement by a managing general partner
- An impasse between shareholders of a private mortgage lending and brokerage corporation
- Claims by customers against securities broker-dealer firms for unsuitable investment recommendations.
- Conflict between principal heirs over the administration of an estate
- Petitions before the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers for the discipline of attorneys and the appeal of BBO decisions to single justices of the Supreme Judicial Court.
Mr. Wiest began practice in Massachusetts in 1986 at Bradley, Barry & Tarlow, P.C. and joined the firm now known as Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. upon its organization in 1991. During those years he appeared in a wide range of cases in Massachusetts and Federal courts on behalf of closely-held businesses and their owners, including:
- The successful presentation of commercial products liability and securities arbitration claims
- Treble-damage antitrust litigation
- Employment disputes arising under both discrimination law and attempts to enforce or defeat non-competition agreements
- Bankruptcy litigation on behalf of both debtors and creditors
Mr. Wiest has also prosecuted trademark and copyright applications, assisted business clients in complying with state and Federal securities laws in the private placements or resale of restricted securities and provided guidance on employment law related issues arising out of the purchase and sale of ongoing businesses.
Mr. Wiest began his legal career in 1979 at the New York firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he participated in a wide variety of complex litigation matters, including the defense of auditors and broker-dealers alleged to have violated Federal and state securities and commodities laws, and treble damage and grand jury antitrust proceedings. Mr. Wiest also appeared in substituted consent and psychiatric commitment matters for a large New York hospital. He moved in 1984 to the New York and Morristown New Jersey firm of Bressler, Amery & Ross, P.C., where he continued his practice in complex business litigation for clients including real estate investment bankers, securities underwriters and broker-dealers, and manufacturing and computer services businesses. He assisted in claims arising out of the liquidation of a securities clearing broker, derivative litigation against the controlling shareholders of the former American Biltrite Inc., the defense of a securities broker-dealer in customer arbitration and claims for mortgage commissions and related consulting fees against affiliates of Olympia & York.
Mr. Wiest was appointed to the panel of arbitrators of the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1990 and The New York Stock Exhange, Inc. in 1985 and served as chair in numerous arbitrations under the auspices of both organizations (now merged into FINRA Dispute Resolution) between public customers, registered representatives and employees until 2007. He completed training to act as a mediator in 1997 and has served since that date on panels of volunteer case conciliators and mediators at the Boston Municipal Court under the auspices of the Boston Bar Association. He is an active member of the Frank J. Murray American Inn of Court (on whose executive board he served from 1997 to 2001), and has taught antitrust law at New England School of Law. Mr. Wiest also served for nearly ten years as a director, secretary and treasurer of the University of Pennsylvania Club of Boston
Mr. Wiest is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D. magna cum laude 1979) and the College of Arts of Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. magna cum laude 1976). He is a member of the Bar of state and Federal courts sitting in Massachusetts (1986) and New York (1980), and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Wiest has also been a long-time active member of the Boston Bar Association, in which he is currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the BBA’s Solo and Small Firm Section and its liason to the Steering Committee of the Litigation section. Mr. Wiest has also served on the BBA Task Force on Corporate Governance (2003-04) and a BBA Work Group on the incorporation of ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5 (governing the practice of out-of-state lawyers within Massachusetts) into the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.