Michael S. Kraut is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Kraut's practice focuses primarily on complex commercial litigation and securities litigation and enforcement matters. He represents banks, trust companies, registered investment advisers, hedge funds, broker-dealers, public issuers, and their officers and directors in civil litigation and investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, self-regulatory organizations, and state securities regulators. Mr. Kraut also counsels clients on conducting internal investigations and on regulatory and compliance issues.

Significant recent representations include:

Representation of residential mortgage-backed securitization trustees and trusts in connection with numerous class actions alleging violations of federal securities laws, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Representation of large national banks and their senior executives in defense of various federal district court actions.
Representation of a broker-dealer in defense of litigation involving allegations of securities fraud in connection with a private offering.
Representation of residential mortgage-backed securitization trustees in numerous class actions brought by mortgage loan borrowers asserting that the trustees lacked standing to enforce notes and mortgages that had been securitized.
Representation of large banking institutions in defense of regulatory proceedings related to residential mortgage-backed securitization.
Representation of residential mortgage-backed securitization trustee in defense of multiple lawsuits brought by investors alleging that the trustee’s conflict of interest caused breaches of contractual, common law, and statutory duties.
Representation of hedge funds in defense of various SEC investigations concerning compliance with federal securities laws and regulations, including issues relating to material nonpublic information, trading around secondary and follow-on offerings, and spread of rumors.
Representation of an indenture trustee in defense of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims asserted by a trust investor that purchased credit-linked notes in a transaction in which it wrote loss protection on a portfolio of loans.
Representation of a large commodities broker in an action against a customer's controlling shareholder and its corporate affiliate to reform and enforce a guaranty of a commodities trading account.
Representation of a broker-dealer, a bank, and an investment adviser in defense of an action brought by a limited partner in an exchange fund alleging breach of contract and fraud.

Mr. Kraut frequently lectures and publishes articles on a variety of topics including litigation involving indenture trustees, securitization, and securities litigation and enforcement issues.

Mr. Kraut is admitted to practice in New York and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.