RICHARD L. PEARSON is a Partner in the firm's Birmingham office, where his practice focuses on assisting a wide range of companies within the financial services industry, including banks, investment advisers, broker-dealers, mutual funds and private investment funds.  He is a member of the firm's Credit Crisis Group, a special team of lawyers working on challenges created by the current disruptions in the credit and other capital markets. Mr. Pearson counsels financial services clients on issues relating to product development, expansion of permissible activities, securities laws, regulatory compliance and risk management.

In recent years, Mr. Pearson has assisted clients in connection with the following:

• Sale of bank's proprietary mutual fund family
• Development of a separately managed account and multi-disciplinary account investment platform
• Formulation of strategies and systems to address the SEC's "push-out" rules
• Implementation of investment sweep programs for trust, brokerage and treasury management customers
• Development of policies and procedures to address trading, soft dollar, insider trading, personal securities trading, SEC and NASD advertising rules
• Analysis of fiduciary issues, including ERISA prohibited transaction issues, in connection with investment programs
• MSRB rules and regulations, including the Rule G-37 pay-to-play rules