Eppenstein & Eppenstein has an international practice and is known for our work in advocating the rights of public investors for over two decades. Mr. Eppenstein argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 in Shearson v. McMahon on behalf of the investors' right to adjudicate claims in court. This landmark case and its progeny has drawn extensive national attention since then.

In the wake of McMahon, Mr. Eppenstein was asked to testify before three Congressional subcommittees. The U.S. House of Represatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance requested that Mr. Eppenstein appear to present his opinion of compulsory arbitration and arbitration reform. After testifying in 1988, along with his partner Madelaine Eppenstein, Mr.Eppenstein assisted the Subcommittee in drafting remedial legislation (H.R. 4960). Mr. Eppenstein also testifed (in 1987) before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Criminal Justice to present their opinions on civil RICO reform.

In 2007, Mr. Eppenstein appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law at hearings on H.R. 3010, the “Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007.” his Written Statement to Congress backing investor rights can be viewed on the Subcommittee’s Web site. A copy of the Written Statement (without exhibits) can also be viewed here. Ted Eppenstein was the first investor attorney to urge Congress to include investors in the reach of the Act, return to public investors the right to go to court if they choose, and establish a totally independent arbitration forum outside the industry for adjudication of public investors’ securities fraud, hedge fund fraud and other brokerage industry disputes. Under the new administration, in 2009 the House reintroduced the Bill as H.R. 1020, the "Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009."

In 2001 the Firm received a record-setting arbitration decision for investors totaling over $42 million dollars. After two court decisions, the awards were confirmed at over $46 million, which was collected.

Mr. Eppenstein was appointed in 1998 to be one of three public members of the Securities Industry Conference on Arbitration, an advisory discussion group that meets regularly with representatives of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on arbitration, and was reappointed to a third term.

The New York Stock Exchange invited Mr. Eppenstein in 1994 to express his views at the New York Stock Exchange Symposium on Arbitration in the Securities Industry where he appeared as a speaker and as a participant. The NASD's Arbitration Policy Task Force requested that Mr. Eppenstein present his opinion on rule changes as a representative of investors’ rights at two sessions held in 1995. The New York Stock Exchange and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange invited Mr. Eppenstein to participate in a two-day symposium about arbitration in the United States held in Moscow in 2000 as part of the NYSE’s "Dream Team." Mr. Eppenstein was also a principal speaker at a two day Arbitration in Securities Program with the New York Stock Exchange and the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges held in Cairo in 2003. From time to time, Mr. Eppenstein’s opinions have been solicited by the General Counsel’s office of the SEC and by the Directors of Arbitration at the NYSE and NASD, now known as FINRA.

Mr. Eppenstein was a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Securities Arbitration Rules Task Force, and assisted in drafting revised securities arbitration rules for the AAA. He was asked to continue as a member of the AAA’s Securities Advisory Committee following the adoption of the revised rules.

Mr. Eppenstein, along with Ms. Eppenstein, have co-authored many articles on securities arbitration and litigation and they have been on the faculty of professional seminars and conferences.

The Eppensteins' views have been quoted by many major national and international press organizations. In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published a half-page interview featuring Mr. Eppenstein's position supporting the rights of investors and his rebuttal to brokerage industry arguments in "Out-of-Court Fight: Two Decades after Mandatory Arbitration Took Effect for Investors' Disputes, Debate over It Gains Renewed Momentum." The New York Times requested an opinion piece about securities arbitration since the McMahon decision and published an article in 1999 written by the Eppensteins, titled by the Times "An Arbitration Albatross." The New York Times (Front Page Sunday Business Section), The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Barron’s, Newsweek, Bloomberg Business Week, Smart Money, Forbes, Money Magazine, Investment Dealer's Digest, Investor's Daily, the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times are among the dozens of publications which have interviewed Mr. Eppenstein on securities and commodities arbitration issues. Worth Magazine ran a profile of Madelaine and Theodore Eppenstein entitled "Two for the High Road, to the Eppensteins, Shareholders' Rights Are Sacred." Mr. Eppenstein also appeared on the cover of Investment Dealers' Digest and was prominently featured in the cover story "Taking Brokers to Court."

Media coverage of Mr. Eppenstein and his firm has also included numerous television appearances such as the NBC Today Show on two occasions, CBS Business News, NBC Business News, ABC, Court TV, CNN, CNBC, Financial News Network, Wall Street Week, Fox Business News and other cable shows.

Mr. Eppenstein has argued consistently on behalf of the investing public. He also successfully opened the "Amex Window" through the New York State appellate courts, and his unanimous victory in Cowen & Co. v. Anderson in the New York Court of Appeals in 1990 established the law in New York State giving thousands of investors the right to arbitrate at the independent American Arbitration Association and not just within the confines of self-regulatory securities industry organizations.

The Eppensteins have represented international clients (from, for example, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India and the Middle East) and have counseled attorneys globally on federal court litigation and arbitration of brokerage fraud matters.

Mr. Eppenstein has been on the faculty of many professional seminars and conferences and has co-authored numerous articles on securities arbitration and litigation.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook (B.A. 1968), and St. John's Law School (J.D. 1973), Mr. Eppenstein was a recipient of Stony Brook's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1991. While attending Stony Brook, Mr. Eppenstein held 14 school basketball records, including most points in a game and in a career and was inducted into the University's Athletic Hall of Fame in May 1994. In conjunction with Stony Brook’s 40th Anniversary, Mr. Eppenstein was profiled as one of the University's finest 40 graduates in 1998. Mr. Eppenstein previously served as a member of the President’s Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee under former President John Marburger, III and on the Board of Directors of the Stony Brook Seawolves, which advised the University’s Athletic Department. Mr. Eppenstein is a member of Stony Brook Business School’s MBA Advisory Committee.

After graduation from law school, Mr. Eppenstein worked for two of the largest and respected firms in the country. Mr. Eppenstein's legal career began at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson where he worked on corporate, securities and litigation matters. Mr. Eppenstein was also associated with Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn and practiced in their litigation department. Thereafter, Mr. Eppenstein went into private practice and Madelaine Eppenstein joined his firm as a partner after working in the litigation department at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York.