MARISA N. DEMATO earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Florida Atlantic University and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law. While at the University of Baltimore School of Law, Ms. DeMato served as a legal intern for the Office of the Attorney General in Annapolis, Maryland, working directly with the Deputy Attorney General for the Maryland General Assembly.
Before joining the Firm’s Institutional Investment Outreach team, Ms. DeMato devoted a substantial portion of her time to aggressively representing investors in class actions involving securities fraud by public companies and their officers. Currently, Ms. DeMato regularly meets with public and multi-employer pension funds, retirement systems, and other institutional investors to educate them about the Firm’s Portfolio Monitoring ProgramSM. She also advises public and multi-employer pension funds around the country on issues related to corporate fraud in the U.S. securities markets and “best practices” in the corporate governance of publicly traded companies. Additionally, Ms. DeMato serves as a firm liaison to numerous institutional clients and advises clients on moving for lead plaintiff and other litigation related matters.
Ms. DeMato is a frequent lecturer on topics pertaining to securities fraud litigation, fiduciary responsibility and trustee education and corporate governance issues. Over the past several years, Ms. DeMato has focused speaking on the subprime mortgage crisis and its disastrous affect on the pension fund community at regional and national conferences. More recently, Ms. DeMato has been speaking on issues pertaining to the federal regulatory response to the financial crisis of 2008, including the national debate on executive compensation, “Say on Pay” initiatives and proxy access proposals currently being considered by the SEC. Specifically, Ms. DeMato has addressed the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, the Florida Public Pension Trustees Association, The National Association of Police, The Public Funds Summit, the Southeastern Public Employees Retirement System Summit, the New England Public Employees Retirement System Summit and the Massachusetts Contributory Retirement System, among others.
In the spring of 2006, Ms. DeMato was selected over 250,000 applicants to appear on the sixth season of The Apprentice, which aired on January 7, 2007 on NBC. As a result of her role on The Apprentice, Ms. DeMato has appeared in numerous news media outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal, People magazine, and various national legal journals.
Ms. DeMato is admitted to practice law in the state courts of Florida, as well as the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida. Ms. DeMato is also admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia. Ms. DeMato is an active member of the American Bar Association and the Women’s Bar Association.
