Brian Smiley was quoted in On Wall Street concerning a new FINRA rule that allows parties to have investor cases decided by panels that do not include an arbitrator affiliated with the securities industry.
The SEC’s approval of the new process was great news to Brian Smiley, a partner at Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP, a law firm that specializes in securities arbitration. “As a lawyer representing investors, I worry that a lot of the claims that are being brought by investors challenge industry-wide practices,” such as auction-rate securities or variable annuities, Smiley said. “Without the rule, you end up with arbitrators having to decide these cases that come from firms that engage in the same practices,” he said.
