Litigation attorneys Jeffrey Plotkin and Eli Yampel authored the article, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Defending Against Legally Meritless Claims in FINRA Arbitration” for the November/December 2025 issue of CT Lawyer, the official publication of the Connecticut Bar Association. The article provides guidance to counsel on how to best navigate the twin dilemmas that respondents face in FINRA arbitrations: (1) they must bear the burdens, costs, and distractions of defending against legally meritless claims all the way through the evidentiary hearings, and (2) they may be faced with adverse awards lacking a legal basis that courts are unlikely to set aside on a motion to vacate. In the end, professional and focused advocacy—addressing the elements of the manifest disregard of the law doctrine while adhering to the appropriate FINRA procedural processes—remains the most reliable defense against legally meritless claims.
Read the full article here.