About Mark Toshiro
Mark Toshiro Hiraide is a partner at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP in Los Angeles, California. He has been a member of the State Bar of California since 1985. The firm, located at 2049 Century Park East, 18th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067, specializes in business law, securities law, and stockbroker and investment fraud cases. He earned his J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 1984, focusing on corporate law. His undergraduate degree, a B.A.
in Economics, was obtained from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981. During law school, he served as a judicial extern to Justice Cruz Reynoso of the California Supreme Court and to the Honorable Robert M. Takasugi of the United States District Court, Central District of California. Most of his practice involves representing entrepreneurs, startups, publicly traded companies, directors and officers, broker-dealers, investment bankers, investment advisers, and accountants in civil litigation related to securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and investment management. He also counsels public and private companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance, fiduciary duties, and SEC compliance. Additionally, he defends parties in civil litigation, government regulatory investigations, and enforcement proceedings, and represents defrauded investors.
Before joining Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, he spent eight years as an attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He headed an Enforcement Branch in the SEC's Los Angeles Regional Office and was appointed by the United States Attorney's Office as a Special Assistant United States Attorney to prosecute a major criminal securities fraud case. He completed his career at the SEC as an Attorney-Advisor in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance in Washington, D.C. He joined Lee Petillon in private practice in 1994, where they later formed the securities-law boutique Petillon Hiraide LLP. He has testified before the Securities Subcommittee of the U.S.
Senate Banking Committee about investor risks in securities offerings. He is the author of "Crowdfunding: Practical Guide to the SEC’s Final Rules for Raising Capital" (Thomson Reuters, 2016) and co-author of "Representing Start-Up Companies" (Thomson Reuters, 2018). He has also served as an expert witness in corporate and securities law. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Board of Trustees and has served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section. He is also a Senior Legal Director & Policy Counsel for the Investor Choice Advocates Network (ICAN) and serves on the Advisory Board of the California State University Dominguez Hills Innovation Incubator. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Small Business California and the South Bay Entrepreneurial Center.
