Duration: Full year clinic

Credits: 8 credits (4 per semester/letter grade)

The clinic will provide students with an opportunity to develop lawyering skills and gain substantive legal knowledge through representing small investors in securities arbitration conducted by the Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory body that administers a system to arbitrate investor claims. Cases involve claims by small investors against brokers and brokerages for allegations including churning, unauthorized trading, unsuitability, misrepresentation, and failure to supervise.

Students will provide representation under the supervision of faculty from initial client contact through confirming or vacating arbitration awards in court.  They will perform client and witness interviews, conduct investigations, carry out analyses do legal research, draft pleadings and motions, and prepare and respond to discovery. Students may also have opportunities to negotiate settlements and draft settlement agreements, select arbitrator(s), appear at pre-hearing conferences and represent clients in arbitration hearings.   Clinic students are required to attend a weekly two-hour seminar covering broker-dealer regulation, legal skills and arbitration theory and procedure. Students are also required to spend up to 13 hours a week working on their cases, meeting with a faculty member at least once a week to discuss their cases, maintaining files and working at the Clinic as needed in addition to the class time. 

Enrollment is limited and requires a commitment for two semesters.  Students who have taken courses in securities transactions and ADR, negotiation or arbitration will be given preference

Prerequisite: Students who have taken coures in ADR/securities regulation/negotiation/arbitration will be preferred, but there are no mandatory prerequisites.

Questions: Contact David Gibbs, Practitioner in Residence, at dgibbs@suffolk.edu or Professor Dwight Golann at dgolann@suffolk.edu