FINRA Dispute Resolution is the principal forum for securities-industry disputes, both between customers and member firms and among firms and their associated persons.
FINRA Dispute Resolution is the principal forum for securities-industry disputes, both between customers and member firms and among firms and their associated persons.
Scope of the work
The firm represents claimants and respondents at every stage, from the statement of claim or answer through motion practice, discovery, panel selection, the hearing, the award, and any post-award proceedings to confirm or vacate it.
Customer and industry claims
Customer claims often turn on suitability and Regulation Best Interest, churning, unauthorized trading, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and supervisory failures. Industry claims among member firms and their associated persons typically involve promissory notes, raiding, restrictive covenants, and Form U5 disclosures.
Expungement requests, to remove inaccurate or unsupported customer complaints from a registered representative's CRD and BrokerCheck record, are a recurring component of representative-side work. The firm handles expungement requests, from those raised within a customer arbitration to stand-alone (straight-in) requests under FINRA's current rules, and the court confirmation needed to complete them.
Approach
Strategy and theory of the case are determined at the outset and revisited as the record develops. Settlement is treated as a serious option throughout, but the matter is prepared for hearing from the first filing, panels can tell the difference.
FINRA arbitrations interact with parallel SEC and FINRA enforcement matters, with state and federal court proceedings, and with U4/U5 disclosure obligations. Those interactions are mapped explicitly at the framing stage.
When clients engage the firm
After a statement of claim is filed and an answer is due; on receipt of a customer complaint that may escalate; in the run-up to a U5 termination with possible disclosure consequences; or when a representative needs expungement of a prior customer complaint.