Kendra Canape concentrates her practice in securities litigation, securities regulation, and employment law. Kendra serves as the Chair of the Securities Litigation practice group and Co-chair of the Commercial Litigation practice group at GRSM. Kendra is an experienced litigator and trial counsel. She draws upon that experience to counsel financial services firms and their employees in enforcement and individual actions, class and mass action litigation and arbitrations before the securities industry’s self-regulatory organizations. In representing financial services firms and their employees, Kendra has tried dozens of cases across the country and has defended hundreds of customer claims and regulatory investigations before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), FINRA, AAA and other arbitral forums.

Kendra has been responsible for representing clients in financial services litigation and regulation, employment law, and technology and cyber risk management. She has significant experience in financial services litigation representing national and regional banks, brokerage firms and registered representatives. Kendra has also defended employers in judicial, arbitration and administrative proceedings and has litigated and counseled corporations on cybersecurity and technology issues, including emerging cybersecurity and data privacy-related issues, which include incident planning and breach response.

Admissions

• California
• New York

Memberships

• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Former Member
• International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

Securities Litigation: 

Kendra regularly defends brokerage firms, clearing firms and associated persons in both enforcement and individual actions, class action and mass action litigation in state and federal courts and in arbitrations before the securities industry’s self-regulatory organizations. In representing financial services firms, Kendra has defended over one hundred regulatory investigations and customer claims before the SEC, FINRA, AAA and ADR. Kendra’s practice includes virtually all types of claims involving a myriad of financial services and products. Kendra’s experience includes defense of Rule 10b-5 claims, conflicts of interest involving firm research departments and individual research analysts, improper mutual fund sales practices, unfair business practices, retail customer suitability and breach of fiduciary duty claims involving publicly traded equities, mutual funds, ETFs, municipal bonds, private placements, initial public offerings, secondary offerings and PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) transactions.  Kendra's regulatory experience includes investigations and enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and FINRA.  She has advised and successfully defended numerous individuals and entities, as subpoena recipients, subjects/targets of SEC and FINRA enforcement inquiries, as well as full blown litigation with governmental regulatory authorities.

Banking & Finance:

Kendra represents the firm’s banking clients in various types of consumer-based litigation, including mortgage banking, consumer protection, privacy, unfair business practices, and debt collection. She handles both loan level and class action litigation in state and federal courts for banking clients. Her practice includes representations in a wide variety of matters including claims concerning predatory lending, deceptive practices, statutory consumer lending violations, wrongful foreclosure and fraud claims, claims involving promised or failed loan modifications, RESPA, TILA, FDCPA, state consumer protection laws, eminent domain issues, and lien priority disputes.

Labor & Employment:

In her employment practice, Kendra defends employers in judicial, arbitration and administrative proceedings. She has defended cases involving claims of wrongful termination, constructive discharge, retaliation, breach of contract, defamation, fraud, discrimination, harassment, failure to pay wages, reasonable accommodation and interactive process, CFRA/FMLA leave, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the California Labor Code. Kendra also provides advice to employers on a wide range of topics, including disability and protected leaves, employee privacy, wage and hour considerations and retaliation and whistleblower concerns, as well as other hiring, promotion, demotion and termination issues.

Cyber, Privacy & Data Security:

Kendra has considerable experience in technology and cyber risk management. She has been involved with e-discovery, technology and cybersecurity initiatives. Kendra represents clients in a broad spectrum of litigation and counseling, including emerging cybersecurity and data-privacy-related issues involving incident planning and breach response.