About the Firm
The Firm was founded by Bill Norton following a career in the investment field that included four years with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Norton began representing investors privately in the year 2000. Through that early work, he came to realize that dishonesty and self-serving conduct was far more prevalent in the investment industry than he had previously believed; and he came to feel a need to assist the victims who were being preyed upon by these unscrupulous people. He founded the Firm in 2002 in furtherance of that work.
Mr. Norton has considerable investment industry experience, and he finds most of it extremely useful in dealing with the less-than-honest.
Before he went into private practice, Mr. Norton was a Senior Vice-President and General Counsel (head lawyer) of an investment complex consisting of a stock-brokerage firm, an investment adviser, some life insurance companies, a large number of mutual funds, a New York Stock Exchange-listed investment company and a stock transfer firm. These firms had over a billion dollars of assets under management. He was their General Counsel for over sixteen years.
Prior to this, Mr. Norton was an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. for four years where he worked on a wide variety of investments and projects undertaken for the benefit of investors. Coincidentally, he even served as the head the office of investor assistance for a month when the Director of that office had to take a leave of absence.
Prior to the SEC, Mr. Norton also spent approximately six years helping large life insurance companies get into the investment business, helped them register innovative investment products with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the state securities and insurance commissions, and performed other investment-related tasks. During this period, Mr. Norton also authored a book explaining investments, primarily for use by people wishing to become licensed to sell investment products; and he designed and implemented a well-received and very effective study and training program for 1,600 salespeople who had to pass the examinations administered by the National Association of Securities Dealers to become licensed.
Mr. Norton is licensed to practice law in Minnesota and in Florida. He is a member of the Minnesota and Florida Bar Associations; the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association; the Hennepin and Ramsey County Bar Associations, and various investment industry organizations.
Mr. Norton is also an experienced mediator and arbitrator, and is a member if the ADR section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Please see the heading “What the Firm Does” for more information.
