By Chris Seps on Posted in Arbitration,Discovery,FINRA,Registered RepresentativeFINRA’s Discovery Guide for Customer Disputes is not perfect. I think that FINRA would be the first one to admit that – which is why the Discovery Guide adopted under the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes has been revised three times in the past five years, and a task force has been set… Continue Reading
By Nathan Lamb on Posted in Arbitration,FINRABy now, it should be clear, we are oft to criticize FINRA in this blog. Much of that criticism is self-inflicted by, in our view, their unfair or unreasonable decisions. But, in a departure from the norm, I want to recognize an instance when FINRA is getting something right. Effective this Friday, there will be… Continue Reading
By Chris Seps on Posted in Arbitration,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,FINRA,Mediation,SettlementsI recently had two clients, both respondents in pending matters – ask me the same question in the same day: should I mediate this case? The answers I gave them differed dramatically, not just because the facts of each case were very different, but because one case was a customer arbitration, where we are defending… Continue Reading
By Nathan Lamb on Posted in Arbitration,FINRA,Rule 1250,Senior InvestorsIn a recent blog post, I wrote about the challenge a rapidly deteriorating change in mental capacity can cause BDs and RRs alike. Often, we are asked to speak to groups and firms, and this subject is a popular one. In my view, there are a couple of reasons for this development. First, FINRA has… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,FINRAI recently had the extremely unhappy experience of losing a FINRA arbitration following a week-long hearing. Fortunately, this tends to be a rare occurrence around here, but that’s not really a surprise, since we tend to go to hearing only in those cases with strong facts, while we work hard to settle those with difficult… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,Enforcement,FINRAFINRA recently passed an amendment to the Code of Arbitration Procedure which provides that arbitrators no longer have to wait until the end of a case to make a disciplinary referral. Now, panelists are free to make such a referral in the middle of a hearing! My first observation is: was there really a need… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,FINRAAnyone who’s handled FINRA arbitrations is well familiar with panelists who regularly respond to evidentiary objections by overruling them, but with the admonition that they will only give whatever weight, if any, to the evidence that they deem appropriate. While that can sometimes be frustrating, it is understandable. The Federal Arbitration Act, and the many… Continue Reading
