Updates on FINRA

As the pandemic slowly (fingers crossed) winds down, FINRA took the opportunity to reflect on its arbitration procedures over the past couple of years. Needless to say, the amount of Zoom hearings rose exponentially: 136 in 2021 versus only 30 in 2020.

As the American Bar Association notes, “FINRA has described its virtual hearing services for conducting video and telephonic hearings and sharing documents remotely as high-quality, secure, and user-friendly. I think this is generally a fair description, based on my firsthand experience. And based on this success and the presumed post-COVID landscape, it seems very likely that virtual hearings will remain an option to parties moving forward. What exactly that process will look like and what changes will be made are not as clear. "

The ABA notes several issues that are worth discussion as time marches on. But I think it’s safe to say that virtual hearings are here to stay and will only get better in the future.