Nathaniel Lee Prosser III

Niel Prosser has over 35 years of experience in securities arbitration and commercial litigation. In that span, he has seen the law from several perspectives, including as a partner in a large law firm and as Head of Litigation for a large securities firm.

Niel graduated from the University of Memphis School of Law with honors in 1985. For the next year he clerked for the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Niel then went into private practice at the second largest firm in Memphis, Armstrong Allen, where for 13 years he handled various types of business litigation in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi (including non-competition/confidentiality agreements, contracts, corporate disputes, products liability and securities), as well as some business practice.

In 1999, Niel was hired as Deputy General Counsel and Head of Litigation for Morgan Keegan and Company, a position he held for 15 years. Morgan Keegan, which was acquired by Raymond James in 2012, was a large regional broker-dealer with revenues exceeding $1 billion and offices throughout the southeastern United States, parts of the Midwest, New York and California. Niel’s position at Morgan Keegan gave him a wealth of securities arbitration experience. In addition to handling numerous cases personally, Niel directed the defense of approximately 1,750 arbitration cases, including many cases filed beginning in 2007 regarding Morgan Keegan’s proprietary “RMK High-Yield Bond Funds”. These Funds, which had previously been top performers, crashed at the outset of the Financial Crisis, generating arbitrations, state/federal lawsuits and class actions collectively seeking billions of dollars in damages. In 2012, Niel and his legal team at Morgan Keegan were recognized as “In-House Team of the Year” at the Benchmark Litigation Annual Awards South. Niel left Raymond James and started the Prosser Law Firm in 2014. In 2022, he added two Partners – Rob Clapper and Kyle Johnson – and renamed the firm Prosser, Clapper & Johnson, PLC.

Niel’s wealth of experience includes many other broker/dealer issues, including regulatory investigations, broker recruiting, promissory note collection, employment issues, U-4/U-5 reporting/expungement and firm supervisory and compliance procedures.

Niel has taught Legal Research and Writing as an adjunct professor at The University of Memphis School of Law, served as President of the Memphis Mid-South Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, earned the designation Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional through the NASD’s certification program at the Wharton School of Business and has held the Series 7 and Series 24 securities licenses. He is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and is a member of the Memphis and Tennessee Bar Associations.