Securities Practice Group Blog

Recently, the SEC has decided to allow brokers to employ client testimonials in their practice, opening a huge – and for some, unwelcome – can of worms. Much like lawyers using client testimonials, brokers will run some risks in using them. Why? Because any...

If you are a broker who has had what you think is defamatory language put on your Form U5, the only way you can compel changes to your record is to bring a defamation suit at FINRA Dispute Resolution against the firm that filed it. Although defamation laws vary...

Form U5 defamation cases are on the rise, with a reported 24% increase over the filing period from 2019 to 2020.  In 2020, Form U5 defamation cases were the fourth most common intra-industry claim filed with FINRA Dispute Resolution, behind breach of contract,...

In California, it has long been the case that what a brokerage firm puts on your U5 is protected by “absolute privilege,” making it hard for you to get your record expunged out there. But California’s Fourth District Court of Appeals recently decided that a firm’s...

When I started out in this business, I represented investors against brokers and the investor was always right.  Then I got wise. Especially as the market did well in the early 2010s, there were a lot of shifty investors trying to get a Mulligan if their bad ideas...

In Barbara Golds v. LPL et al., I defended LPL against a market maven who wanted the FINRA panel to believe she was taken by one of its brokers. The broker was taken by her in a classic selling away case. Unsatisfied with her returns at LPL in a time when the market...

Virtually every case I defended at Oppenheimer involved some disgruntled investor trying to get a Mulligan and/or blame the broker for their own folly. Case in point, the Estes matter. Dick Estes, obsessed with a biotech stock called Cardiome, went nuts with it and...

Mistakes in Drafting Your Arbitration Agreements in Michigan May Lead to an Award of Attorney’s Fees In drafting a contract with your brokers, you’d better be sure you don’t have inconsistencies, especially when it comes to the arbitration agreement. A recent ruling...

On FINRA Arbitration Awards Online | FINRA.org I recently found a very instructive recent outcome for in-house counsel suing one of their own brokers. In FINRA Case No. 17-02630 Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., an Iowa-based broker-dealer, went after a rep named...

Did Non-Solicitation Agreements just get more complicated in Michigan? So, you just left a firm you can’t stand anymore for a better one. You talk with your clients and they move to your new firm. Did you violate your non-solicit agreement with the old firm if your...

Washington D.C., Oct. 29, 2020 —The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of over $10 million to a whistleblower whose information prompted the opening of an investigation and provided substantial, ongoing assistance to SEC staff throughout the...

Welcome to the new Securities Practice Group website, from the Law Offices of Christopher H. Tovar, PLLC.