Robert J.A. Zito has been in practice for over three decades, handling a variety of business, corporate and securities disputes in courts around the country. Mr. Zito has acted as counsel and trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies, private business clients, and high profile and high net worth individuals. His practice is focused on disputes and general counseling in the areas of business, corporate and securities transactions, securities violations, SEC and SRO enforcement, shareholder rights, director, officer and partner fiduciary duties, corporate governance, company valuations and unfair competition, in a variety of forums, such as arbitration tribunals, state or federal courts and in private negotiations and in both civil and criminal contexts. Mr. Zito serves as Chair of the firm's Financial Institutions Regulatory and Enforcement Practice Group.
Bob has extensive trial experience. He recently acted as lead trial counsel in U.S. v. Christopher Finazzo, in which the jury found that the defendant, while convicted, did not intend to deprive his employer of any money in connection with his nondisclosure of a related-party transaction on all 15 wire/mail fraud counts, a critical finding. Also, Mr. Zito is the only defense attorney in the United States to have tried to verdict a securities class action brought under Section 14 of the Securities Exchange Act, in the wake of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Bob serves on the mediation panel of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County Commercial Division. He acts as a mediator in private disputes.
Mr. Zito has also served as Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee of a public company and is active in counseling clients in the area of governance, fiduciary duties and internal controls and investigations.
Mr. Zito is the Canon (Title IV) Church Attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of New York and is one of the few canon lawyers who has prosecuted a clergyperson for misconduct before an Ecclesiastical tribunal. In 2015, he received the Servant of Justice Award from the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
