Ellen Paulus

Ellen Paulus specializes in matters involving financial markets, financial institutions, investments, and valuation. Dr. Paulus consults to financial services firms, including asset managers and broker-dealers, with a focus on matters involving the performance, pricing, trading, and alleged manipulation of a wide range of investments and financial products. She also focuses on valuation, including matters before the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Dr. Paulus supports clients and experts through all phases of litigation, including mediation, deposition, class certification, and trial. She has published research in the Journal of Empirical Finance.

Collusive conduct in financial markets

Dr. Paulus has assessed the alleged market manipulation of bid-ask spreads, asset prices, and benchmark prices in FX markets, over-the-counter markets for corporate bonds, and the primary market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). She has worked with major financial institutions to analyze large transaction-level datasets and conducted forensic analyses of specific trading episodes.

Dr. Paulus has addressed antitrust issues arising in commercial litigation as well as regulatory and internal investigations. Her experience includes:

• Addressing alleged market manipulation and collusive conduct in FX markets, both in the contexts of class certification and liability and damages
• Consulting on multinational regulatory investigations into the alleged manipulation of precious metal derivatives
• Analyzing alleged manipulation of a pricing algorithm for corporate bonds in the context of internal investigations

Investments

Dr. Paulus has assessed a range of issues arising in portfolio management firms. She has supported firms in regulatory investigations led by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice. She has worked on class action litigation matters involving Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Dr. Paulus has extensive experience with trading issues and pricing of mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and a range of structured products. Her expertise includes:

• Analyzing mutual funds’ performance, fee, scale, and profitability data to address claims of excessive fees under Section 36(b)
• Evaluating defined contribution plan performance and fees, as well as individual-level transaction data, in the context of ERISA
• Assessing performance attribution and portfolio risk for a family of corporate and municipal bond funds
• Identifying cross-trades in mutual fund transaction data, and estimating appropriate remediation under Rule 17a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940
• Evaluating proposed SEC rule-making on sales practices on behalf of an ETF sponsor
• Conducting valuation of structured products, including the tranches of synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)
• Conducting credit risk assessments for a variety of fixed income instruments

Valuation

Dr. Paulus has led teams to conduct company valuations, notably in matters before the Delaware Court of Chancery. Her expertise includes analyzing the complex financial structure of high-growth technology companies.