With steadily increasing complaints against brokers, brokerage firms, investment advisors, and other financial professionals, as well as high profile securities cases such as Enron, Worldcom, and Madoff, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") is increasingly concerned with the issuance, purchase, and sale of securities in general. As a result, the SEC is currently examining the industry as a whole, and consistently developing stronger rules and regulation to govern the securities industry. So far in 2009, we have already seen legislation that proposes the strengthening of criminal and civil penalties for committing white-collar crimes such as fraud. Therefore, securities brokers, investment advisors, and other financial professionals should retain lawyers specialized in securities law, and, more specifically, broker fraud lawyers. Even if a professional has not been the subject of a complaint or accused of fraud, a securities attorney may be able to review the business practices and procedures and determine any additional precautions that the professional might take in order to guard against liability resulting from costly, time-consuming fraud claims.