Brett G. Evans
Principal. Securities, corporate, energy and tax — for the businesses that raise capital and the professionals who handle it.
The practice
Most of the seats in this industry, in order.
Brett's securities career began on the compliance side of a broker-dealer and has since run through most of the seats the industry has to offer — securities counsel to a sponsor of investment programs, general counsel and chief operating officer of an energy issuer, and chief executive of a broker-dealer, before returning to private practice.
He has written the supervisory procedures a regulator later examined, sat on the investment committee that approved the transactions, and signed the filings. The documents this practice produces are drafted by someone who has been on the receiving end of them.
The firm advises corporations, asset management companies, issuers, broker-dealers, investment advisers and registered representatives — on securities offerings, broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation, compliance and supervision, due diligence, investigations and enforcement, and a broad range of transactional work. An energy practice sits alongside it, supported by a tax LL.M. and four years inside an oil and gas company.
Over $3 billion
in debt and equity securities structured or drafted, as drafting counsel on the offering.
Over $500 million
in closed acquisitions and dispositions, as lead counsel on the purchase and sale agreement.
Before private practice
Where the regulatory experience comes from.
These are operating roles, not advisory ones. Each carried personal responsibility for the thing a regulator would later ask about.
2010 – present
Principal — Evans Law, PC, Tustin, California.
2009 – 2010
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Compliance Officer — Pacific Point Securities, LLC. Took the firm through FINRA's new member application under Rule 1014 and wrote its written supervisory procedures.
2007 – 2009
Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel — Texas Energy Holdings, Inc., an Inc. 500 oil and gas company that managed or operated over $300 million of oil and gas assets. Sat on its executive investment committee, running acquisitions and syndications.
2005 – 2007
Securities Counsel and Vice President, Private Programs — Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors, formerly Triple Net Properties.
1995 – 1998
Compliance Analyst — Brookstreet Securities Corporation. Where the securities career started, and the reason it is measured in thirty years rather than twenty.
Representative matters
Outcomes, with the forum named.
Every matter turns on its own facts, and nothing below predicts what would happen in another one. These are listed because they are verifiable and because they show the kind of work the firm is retained for.
Representative decisions
Cooper Tr. DTD 10-05-2000, et al. v. Parmigiani, 746 F. App'x 618 (9th Cir. 2018)
Reversed and remanded.
Strong v. Cochran, et al., D. Utah, September 23, 2019
Summary judgment denied.
Other outcomes
Dismissal of an alleged $80 million state securities and malfeasance action brought against directors and officers.
No further action for a national sales executive following a Wells notice, in an investigation by the SEC's Fort Worth office.
Denial of all claims in the first full-cycle DBSI claim heard in FINRA arbitration, acting jointly for the broker-dealer and the registered representative.
Dismissals of an investment adviser, registered representatives and a due diligence analyst in DBSI Private Actions Trustee litigation and in related alternative-investment arbitrations, with no settlement funds paid.
Settlements for broker-dealers and registered representatives at 1% to 20% of claimed damages.
Education and admissions
Trained for the transaction side, not adjacent to it.
A joint law and business degree with a tax LL.M. on top is the combination that matters in this work: the tax consequence is usually the real answer to an entity or offering question, and the business training is why the deal terms are read the same way the client reads them.
LL.M. in Taxation — University of Washington School of Law
2005
J.D. and M.B.A. — University of Utah
2004
B.A., History and Political Science — University of California, Berkeley
1999
Note and Comment Editor of the Utah Law Review, 2003–04, and a finance and financial accounting certificate with the M.B.A.
Registrations and memberships
What the license history actually says.
Former securities registrations
Brett formerly held the Series 7, Series 24 and Series 63 registrations. They are not current, and the firm does not hold any securities registration. They appear here for one reason: the supervisory and compliance work described above was done by someone who held the general securities principal registration himself, rather than only advising others who held it.
Memberships
Recognition
Rated by peers, and by clients.
Selected to Super Lawyers — Securities and Corporate Finance
Southern California Super Lawyers
2025, 2026, 2027
Selected to Rising Stars — Securities and Corporate Finance
Southern California Super Lawyers
2015, 2016
Peer Review Rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Client Champion — Silver
Lawyers.com
Speaking and writing
Explaining this to the industry, not only to clients.
Brett has spoken on securities and tax subjects on more than twenty occasions since 2008 — for ADISA, REISA, SIFMA, NAIBD and Strafford CLE — on oil and gas taxation, offering structure, sponsor-level due diligence and broker-dealer supervision.
He also writes on regulatory developments for the industry press, including The DI Wire on the SEC's electronic messaging sweep and what it meant for broker-dealers and investment advisers.