Law Commons^™

Arbitration Case Law Update 2016, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This chapter identifies decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and selected federal and high state courts in the past year that interpret and apply the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). This chapter also analyzes the impact some of these cases might have on securities arbitration practice.

Finra Dispute Resolution Task Force Releases Its Final Report, With Support For Mediation And Live Hearings, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Late in 2015, the FINRA Dispute Resolution Task Force, a group formed solely for the purpose of systematically assessing and critiquing securities arbitration, released its Final Report and Recommendations. The report contains 51 individual recommendations designed to improve FINRA's heavily-regulated dispute resolution program. Some recommendations offer specific details on implementation; others urge conceptual reform of a particular aspect of the arbitration process but leave FINRA to take care of fleshing out the details.

This article briefly describes the task force's formation; highlights its key recommendations (such as requiring mediation before arbitration of all claims-- subject to party opt-out, and introducing …

The Historical Basis Of Securities Arbitration As An Investor Protection Mechanism, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Why do broker-dealers fear a legal system in which the firms' customers have a unilateral right to demand arbitration of disputes? That scenario would return the industry to the pre-McMahon years, when, because the enforceability of PDAAs with respect to federal securities laws was in doubt, most brokerage customers had such a unilateral right. In fact, the pre-McMahon history of securities arbitration, written about only sparsely, reveals that, today, the primary stakeholders in the process--investors and brokerage firms--have lost sight of the original reason why the securities industry heavily relied on arbitration to resolve industry disputes. While offering a speedy, …