Labor & Employment Law

"Manifest Diregard" May Disappear From Motions to Vacate Securities Arbitration Awards

Posted on March 17, 2009
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Florida, is a "manifest disregard" circuit. In Montes v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, the court found that a closing argument in an NASD arbitration that acknowledged the law, but encouraged the arbitrators to ignore it, was evidence of manifest disregard of the law...

An "Explanation" of the Economic Crisis

Posted on March 16, 2009
My sister, the bankruptcy lawyer, sent me an email to explain the credit crisis. Since my brain is pea-sized, she used points of reference I understand. John is the proprietor of a bar in Sydney. In order to increase sales, he decides to allow his loyal customers, most of whom are unemployed alcoholics, to drink now but pay later...

Bernard Madoff Guilty Plea is Just the Beginning

Posted on March 12, 2009
By now anyone who has any interest in investing knows about Bernie Madoff. Mr. Madoff has admitted his guilt in a Ponzi scheme of gargantuan proportions. But I think this is just the beginning. Mr. Madoff has stated, through others, that no other person knew about his fraud...

Stanford Financial Group, Madoff and Others Teach Lessons

Posted on February 27, 2009

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Will The Xlink Bluetooth Adapter Kill Landlines?

Posted on February 16, 2009
I just spent the weekend using the Xlink BTTN bluetooth adapter. And if this device doesn't scare landline-based phone companies, I'm not sure what will. I'm a Bluetooth addict. I have three Bluetooth headsets. All of my cars have BT hands-free kits...

SEC Rule 151a Fixes A Problem

Posted on February 03, 2009
I have mentioned in the past that my distaste for Equity Indexed Annuities runs deep. I wondered aloud how a market-based product could be sold by someone with a securities registration. I would like to think that the SEC cares what I think, but I would be wrong...

As Rome Burned - John Thain Bought New Fiddles

Posted on January 22, 2009
This is an outrage. Did anyone at Merrill Lynch have a clue about fiscal responsibility? I have discussed the bonuses paid to the prior chief at ML before, Mr. $160 Million. Now, we find out that John Thain spent $1.3 million on himself. The Daily Beast reports that Thain spent foolish amounts of money on ego-stroking items like "relamping wall sconces" for $3,000 and a rug for $87,000...

A Year End Laugh is Good for Everyone

Posted on December 30, 2008
This has only a little bit to do with securities, litigation, investments or anything else. But it made me smile and we all need to smile at least once before the year is out. Have a safe, healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year. That's the view from The Law Planet - Jupiter, Florida.

One Lawyers Good Advice On Changing Firms

Posted on December 22, 2008
I have known Joel Beck for a number of years. First, I knew him as a regulatory attorney at the NASD (now FINRA). Joel went on his own a couple of years ago and writes a very useful blog. Recently, Joel posted a list of things to consider when a broker is considering changing firms or going it on their own...

Pres-Elect Obama Chooses A "Diplomat" To Run SEC

Posted on December 19, 2008
President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen Mary Schapiro to head an agency that is sure to be under scrutiny, the Securities and Exchange Commission. With the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme fresh in everyone's minds, people are looking at the SEC and wondering where that agency was through all of this...

Ponzi Schemes - They're Too Good To Be True

Posted on December 15, 2008
OK folks, wake up! If someone tells you that they can make 8% in up markets and down markets, year in and year out - they are lying!!!. It's as simple as that. Bernard Madoff, a formerly well-respected Wall Streeter with homes in New York and Palm Beach (and why not?) gave up his lengthy charade and announced that his investment fund was "one big lie...

Thoughts on the Citigroup bailout.

Posted on November 24, 2008
So Citigroup is the latest institution deemed "too big to fail." Here's the part I don't understand. The New York Times is reporting that Citigroup is going to get $306 billion in guarantees and an infusion of $20 billion. Isn't this the same Citigroup that was whining that it should have been permitted to purchase ailing Wachovia? Isn't this the same Citigroup that has sued Wachovia and Wells Fargo becuase it ended up the loser in that deal? Did the Feds tell Citigroup to stop stupid litigation while they were at it? There shouldn't be anything that is deemed "too big to fail...

Equity Index Annuities - The Roach Motel Gets Regulated

Posted on November 17, 2008
Here's the deal. Equity Index Annuities look and smell like a security but for reasons that escape me they are regulated as fixed insurance. I have written about this before. An insurance agent, with no securities training, could sell a product whose performance is dependent upon the movements of the stock market...

Proof That Someone Has Too Much Time

Posted on November 11, 2008
Check out this blog which demonstrates that the cost of entry is too low and someone has too much time "on their hands." I guess the good news is that it's not "Brokers standing on a ledge." That's all for now from The Law Planet - Jupiter, Florida

FINRA Arbitrators Take a Bite Out of Claimant's Counsel

Posted on November 11, 2008
I have been handling securities arbitrations for over 20 years. Every once in a while, the arbitrators saw the other side's case for what I believed it was -- nonsense. This has happened a few times over the years. I heard about a case that was being tried before FINRA in Boca Raton...

U-5 Reporting - Termination Reasons With a Distinction

Posted on November 06, 2008
I was recently retained to represent a client who was both an insurance agent and a registered representative with a related entity. The client was terminated by the insurance company and the broker-dealer. The U-5 that was filed became a problem. The broker-dealer disclosed on the U-5 that there were two customer complaints from insurance customers regarding fixed insurance products...

Dilbert Invents a New Brokerage Marketing Scheme

Posted on October 23, 2008
I have always been a big Dilbert fan. Scott Adams has the corporate mindset nailed. I discovered some animated Dilbert shorts on MSN that are mildly amusing. (not Bermuda shorts with cartoon characters.). This one's about the brokerage industry. Dogbert's Discount Brokerage Enjoy...

William F. Heefner - In Memoriam

Posted on October 21, 2008
My father graduated from law school in 1960 and took a job, from which he retired 40 years later, with a small firm called Curtin & Heefner in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County. I don't really remember much about Mr. Curtin, but Mr. Heefner (one of the few lawyers on this planet that I would still call "Mr...

Lehman Brothers Brokers Protest.

Posted on October 13, 2008
A friend of mine sent me this picture claiming that it was a protest of Lehman Brothers employees outside their office. I think he's pulling my leg.

Bankruptcy Commentator May Have The Solution

Posted on September 29, 2008
I am not a bankruptcy lawyer. But my sister is one. We were talking about the mortgage "crisis" and she pointed out a flaw in the bankruptcy code that remains unaddressed. Unlike virtually every other form of debt, a debtor in bankruptcy cannot modify a home mortgage loan...

Product Marketers For Aciphex Need a Cunning Linguist

Posted on September 11, 2008
This has nothing to do with the law, but everything to do with how I see the world. As I was backing my car out of the driveway, I heard an ad on the radio for a product called "Ass effects". I assumed that it was a gag ad on the talk show I like. It wasn't...

Why Having a Big Firm May Not Be The Cure

Posted on September 02, 2008
I will admit, I have a small firm. in fact, you can't get much smaller than a law firm of one lawyer. I like to think that I am conscious of the costs of running a business and hiring a lawyer. If a document can be scanned an emailed, that's the way I send it...

Another FINRA Arbitration Pilot Program, Another Waste of Time

Posted on August 04, 2008
The folks at FINRA are SOOO predictable. Some arbitration haters come out with a "study" about arbitration and conclude it's not fair. The securities industry releases its own study and says that arbitration is fair. So what does FINRA do? A "pilot" program...

Securities Regulator Takes Active Stance on U-5 Expungements

Posted on July 28, 2008
I recently wrote about FINRA's policy on expungements. Of course, FINRA has no control over what any individual state securities commissioner might do. In what appears to be a case of first impression, a state securities regulator has stepped in to try and stop a bargained-for expungement...

U-4 and U-5 Expungements - FINRA's View

Posted on July 21, 2008
I have recently received several inquiries regarding expungements of U-4 and U-5 information. I have said this more than once, but "in the old days" an expungement was a piece of cake. The parties agreed to it, whether it was a customer or industry dispute, and it was done...

Can't Write It? Jott It.

Posted on June 28, 2008
OK, I am a sucker for new technology. I love playing with stuff. I was looking at my Gmail account and an Adword caught my eye for a product called Jott. It promised emails from voice. So I clicked the link, read the site and signed up. It's free, so you can't beat the price...

SEC Victorious in Next Financial Customer Information Case

Posted on June 19, 2008
The securities industry, no doubt, has been waiting for the decision in this case for a while. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filed an action against NEXT Financial, Inc., an independent broker-dealer firm. The SEC was rightfully unhappy about NEXT's broker transition practices...

FINRA Cracks Down On Phony Authorship

Posted on June 02, 2008
We've all seen them - the books and magazines that look like they feature a financial salesperson. In fact, NBC's Dateline program did an expose on annity sales practices. Several of the agents the show targeted had phony ghostwritten articles. In FINRA Notice to Members 08-27, the regulators stated that using ghostwritten materials could violate a number of rules, including NASD Rules 2110, 2120 and 2210 and Incorporated NYSE Rule 472...

I'm Quoted in Registered Rep Magazine

Posted on May 05, 2008
This is exciting for me and not just because it might make my mother proud. I have read Registered Rep for almost as long as I've been in this business. Sometimes I agree with what is written, sometimes not. I was called a few weeks ago and asked questions about Gary Gross, a broker with a reputation in Boca Raton, Florida...

NY Court Upholds U-5 Immunity

Posted on April 28, 2008
In another installment of the incompetent/malevolent broker/dealer guidebook, Barclays Capital partially prevailed on a Motion to Vacate Arbitration Award filed against one of its former employees. In Barclays Capital Inc. vs. Elizabeth Bing Shen, 2008 N...

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