Securities Arbitration Attorney

Arbitration is a dispute resolution process, which is an alternative to the traditional lawsuit in court. Rather than have a matter decided by a judge and jury, participants to a securities arbitration proceeding have their dispute resolved by a panel of arbitrators, in a private or semi-private proceeding.

Although arbitration and mediation have existed as dispute resolution mechanisms for well over 200 years, it was not until the decision of the United States Supreme Court, in Shearson v. MacMahon, 482 U.S. 220 (1987) that arbitration became the most widely used means of resolving disputes in the securities industry.

Arbitration of broker-dealer disputes has long been used as an alternative to the courts because it is a prompt and inexpensive means of resolving complicated issues. There are specific laws which govern the conduct of an arbitration proceeding from both the federal government and the various states. One of the most important legal aspects of arbitration is that arbitration awards are final and binding, subject to review by a court only on a very limited basis. Parties should recognize, too, that in choosing arbitration as a means of resolving a dispute, they generally give up their right to pursue the matter through the courts.

For more information about the securities arbitration process itself and how a securities arbitration attorney can assist you in the process, please see Introduction to Securities Arbitration.

Since the virtual dawn of securities arbitration in 1982, Mark Astarita has represented investors, financial professionals, brokerage firms and investment advisors in securities arbitrations. In over 500 disputes, Mr. Astarita has been the attorney for one of the parties helping them to resolve their disputes, either through a negotiated settlement, a mediation before a hearing, or at the arbitration hearing itself.

The substance of the disputes have encompassed virtually every type of securities disputes that one could possibly imagine, including misrepresentations, churning, unsuitability, unauthorized trading, failure to diversify, breach of fiduciary duty, illegal or excessive markups, selling away, control and domination, ACAT problem, research violations, margin violations, clearing broker liability, books and records violations, supervisory issues and significant others.

While Mr. Astarita is primarily a defense attorney, representing brokers, firms and financial professionals, he also represents individual investors with unique or otherwise noteworthy cases. He has represented investors involved in market manipulation cases, options trading, Merrill Lynch research analyst cases. Most recently, Mr. Astarita successfully represented a family of investors who were involved in a program of writing naked puts, which was unsuitable for them. A New York NASD arbitration panel awarded Mr. Astarita's clients 120% of their out of pocket losses, plus punitive damages and attorneys fees in the sum of one million dollars.

Mr. Astarita also represents investors and financial professionals in SEC investigations, and professionals in NASD and NYSE regulatory investigations and hearings. He has written numerous articles for trade publications and law reviews on these topics, has appeared as a commentator on CNBC's Power Lunch and Morning Call, and is a guest lecturer at Pace University School of Law on the subject of securities arbitrations.

If you are considering retaining a securities arbitration attorney, contact Mr. Astarita at astarita@beamlaw.com. For information on our work in securities employment matters, visit the securities employment attorney page at our site.