Erwin J. Shustak
Managing Partner
- Location:
- San Diego, California / New York, New York
- Phone:
- (619) 696-9500 (Ext. 109)
- Fax:
- (800) 868-9350
- Email:
- shustak@shufirm.com
Areas of Practice
- Complex securities, financial, fraud, and business disputes, litigations, and arbitrations throughout the country in a wide range of State and Federal Courts; and arbitration forums including AAA, JAMS, FINRA, International Chamber of Commerce and others.
- FINRA Arbitrations and counseling for RIA firms, broker-dealers, registered persons, and public customers throughout the country.
- Financial services and regulatory law.
- Securities, financial, real estate, business and investment fraud disputes.
- Unfair competition disputes involving trade secrets, intellectual property, copyrights, and trademarks.
- Business, contract, and real estate disputes.
- Estate, Trust, and Probate disputes and litigation.
- SEC, FINRA and state regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings including investigations, hearings, and Cease and Refrain Orders from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).
- Corporate, LLC, and partnership control and breach of fiduciary duty disputes.
- Strategic legal advice and counseling based on 45 years’ of experience.
Recent Articles by Erwin J. Shustak
Garden Leave and Mandatory Notice Provisions for California Financial Advisors
Firm Highlight: Six Months. No Lawsuit. $650,000 Recovered for former NFL Player Client.
Firm Highlight: Complex Fiduciary Duty Arbitration Yields Landmark $3.33 Million Result for Firm Client
Erwin J. Shustak
Erwin Shustak is the founder and Managing Partner of the Firm. He heads the Litigation and Arbitration Department, with over 47 years of extensive experience in diverse complex disputes and transactions, across the country and overseas. Mr. Shustak specializes in litigations, trials, arbitrations and appeals of complex securities, FINRA, financial and business disputes, with an emphasis in securities, financial services, financial regulatory law, and business disputes.
Few attorneys have the depth and range of his legal experience and judgment. He has handled and overseen several thousand litigations and arbitrations, in Federal and State Courts, and arbitration forums across the country. He has represented public and private companies of all kinds, including banks and other financial institutions; broker-dealers; registered investment advisors; advisory firms; securities brokers; private equity and hedge funds; governmental agencies, including the FDIC and the Resolution Trust Corporation; manufacturing firms in many industries; investment partnerships; and defrauded investors.
His vast trial and arbitration experience includes business, securities, and financial fraud; breach of contract; real estate transactions and disputes; employment disputes; unfair competition, noncompete and restrictive covenant cases; and intellectual property disputes including copyright and trademark infringement. He is a highly experienced and respected litigator as well as an ardent and effective negotiator.
Mr. Shustak began his career in New York City at the premier national law firm Kaye Scholer (now Arnold & Porter). For over 30 years he has served as an arbitrator for FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers), often serving as Chair of the panels he has served on. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America; the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of San Diego; the New York, California State and San Diego County Bar Associations. Erwin also is a member of the Legal and Compliance Society of SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Erwin resides in Del Mar, California and travels extensively serving the Firm’s clients. He is active in community organizations and generously gives his time and experience to various pro bono projects. For many years, he has been a volunteer arbitrator for the San Diego County Bar Fee Dispute Committee, hearing, and determining, fee disputes between clients and their attorneys.
Erwin is an active member of IR Global, a leading international association of legal and accounting professionals, based in London, which provides our Firm with access to top professionals across the globe. Erwin is a long-standing member of the Disputes Committee of that organization.
Education
- New York University School of Law, New York, New York
- J.D., cum laude, 1976
- NYU Law Review, Member, 1974 – 1976 (selected on the basis of academic excellence)
- Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey
- B.A., cum laude, 1973
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Omicron Delta Epsilon (National Economics Honor Society)
- Highest Distinction in Economics
Bar Admissions
- California
- New York
- New Jersey
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Northern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court District of New Jersey
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Central District of California
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of California
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of California
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of New York
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western District of New York
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
Videos, Podcasts & Presentations
- The Art of Advocacy and Arbitration in High-Stakes Financial Disputes – Click here to watch the podcast
- Other People’s Money – The Rise of Fraud in the Crypto & NFT Worlds With Erwin Shustak, Managing Partner of Shustak Reynolds & Partners With Host Richard Levick of LEVICK – Click here to listen to the podcast
- Leveraging the Opinions – Click here to watch the Webinar
- Broker Transitions – An Overview of Legal and Practical Considerations – Click here to watch the Webinar
- Co-Author, Mortgage Fraud and Finance Litigation Strategies, 2015-16 Edition, published by Aspatore Publishers – Click here to read Erwin’s Chapter
IR Global Interviews
We are proud to be members of IR Global, the fastest growing professional services network in the world. With over 800 members covering 150 jurisdictions, we can offer clients unrivalled global support. Expertise spans 70 different practice areas and sectors covering law, accountancy and other advisory services. Erwin has been actively involved in IR Global since its inception and has served as a member of the Disputes Committee for five years.
- In 2022, Shustak Reynolds & Partners was a headline sponsor of IR Global’s Annual Conference in Barcelona – Click here to watch his Interview
- In 2016, Erwin was one of the 3 finalists for IR Global Member of the Year. – Click here to watch his Interview
Honors & Awards
During his career, Erwin has received numerous awards and recognitions for his professional expertise, including:
- Selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions of Woodward White’s “The Best Lawyers in America©” for his work in Financial Services Regulation Law and Commercial Litigation. Best Lawyers© is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession and recognizes only the top 5% of attorneys in the country;
- Named a Super Lawyer© more than eleven times, including 2026, by Super Lawyer Magazine, published by Thompson Reuters, for his peer recognition and professional achievements in securities and business litigation;
- Named one of the “Best Employment Lawyers of New York City” in 2020 by Expertise Communications;
- Named one of the “Top Lawyers in San Diego” and “One of the Top Lawyers and Law Firms You Need to Know” in the 2013-2020 annual Attorneys editions of San Diego Magazine;
- Honored as a “Top Litigator of 2014” and a “Top Rated Lawyer of 2013” in the field of Commercial Litigation by Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer;
- Voted one of San Diego’s “Best of the Bar” in 2015 and 2014 by the San Diego Daily Transcript;
- Selected for Lifetime Membership in Rue Ratings’ Best Attorneys of America©;
- Named “One of the Top 100 Litigation Lawyers in California” in 2014 and 2015 by The American Society of Legal Advocates, a recognition awarded to less than 1.5% of lawyers nationally;
- For the past 45 years, he has received the highest rating- AV- from Martindale Hubbell, ranked by his peers at the highest level of professional excellence;
- Lifetime Member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, based on the multi-million-dollar jury and arbitration awards he has obtained for clients over the years. Fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members of the Forum;
- Selected by the San Diego Daily Transcript as one of the Transcript’s “Top Ten Attorneys in 2005”, and named as one of the “Top Influentials in 2012”;
- Selected by the readers of Fine Magazine as the Top Commercial/Corporate Attorney of 2016;
- Featured on the cover of the 2012 edition of “Top Rated Lawyers in New York” published by The National Law Journal and The American Lawyer;
- Named a “Top Rated Lawyer in Securities Law” in 2013 by American Lawyer and Martindale Hubbell; and
- Rated “Superb”, by Avvo (10 out of 10).
