PIABA President Brian Smiley provides comments on the proposed rule change for securities industry arbitrators. With the downturn taking its toll on investors’ portfolios, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is seeing a substantial increase in the number of complaints filed against brokers and advisers. But even as these firms are getting hit hard with arbitration, three […]
Five Questions with Brian Smiley
PIABA President Brian Smiley speaks about arbitration and investor protection. Brian Smiley, a partner in the Atlanta law firm Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP, also serves as the president of the PIABA, which promotes the interests of investors involved in arbitration disputes against brokerage firms. He spoke to Judith Schoolman about his group’s goals and […]
Brian Smiley Completes Successful Term as PIABA President
Brian Smiley completed his term as president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA). With over 450 members nationally, PIABA is the only bar association dedicated to advocacy on behalf of investors who bring claims in arbitration. During Mr. Smiley’s term, PIABA initiated a number of significant reform measures to the arbitration process.
Will You Finally Be Able to Sue Your Broker?
Brian Smiley comments in Smart Money on investor choices. In this great litigious nation, you can sue just about anyone – your doctor, your mechanic, even your dog walker. Just not your stockbroker. Angry brokerage customers – and these days, there are plenty of them – have long been forced to take their complaints before […]
Brian Smiley Speaks At the Practicing Law Institute
Brian Smiley appeared on the Practicing Law Institute’s program “Securities Arbitration in the Market Meltdown Era” held on August 12, 2009. He was a speaker on two panel discussions concerning arbitration practices.
Securities Arbitration Is Faulted
Brian Smiley comments in Wall Street Journal on PIABA’s petition to the SEC. Attorneys who represent investors have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to drop a requirement that a securities-industry representative sit on arbitration panels.
Selling Toxic Debt to Seniors
Business Week quotes Brian Smiley on toxic debt in bond funds sold to seniors. The subprime securities that created carnage on Wall Street are bringing new pain to Main Street. Regulators in five states are investigating whether Memphis brokerage Morgan Keegan failed to disclose the risks of seven mutual funds stuffed with toxic debt and […]
Arbitration Tilting More Against Investors
Bloomberg quotes Brian Smiley about ‘institutional misconduct’ on Wall Street. Let’s say you had $50,000 in auction- rate securities that your broker said were as safe as money- market funds. The market collapsed and you sold at an 80 percent haircut. At your arbitration hearing, one of the three panel members works at a firm that also […]
Brian Smiley Completes Service as Public Member of the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee
Brian Smiley completed five years of service as a public member of the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee. The 13 members of the NAMC are appointed by FINRA to advise the Board of Directors of FINRA in the drafting of arbitration rules and the recruitment, training, and evaluation of arbitrators. The members of the NAMC are […]
Brian Smiley on the Faculty of Practicing Law Institute
Brian Smiley was on the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute’s Securities Arbitration 2007 program “Arbitrators and Mediators—Winning Their Hearts and Minds” held on August 8, 2007 in New York City. His paper, “Breaking the Nest Egg: Using Traditional Theories to Handle New Cases” appears in the PLI course book.
