Second edition offers average investors easy-to-understand advice on their legal rights, how to avoid disputes, and avenues for legal redress
WHITE PLAINS, NY, July 12, 2011–In a continuing effort to educate, inform and empower the investing public, the Pace Law School Investor Rights Clinic recently released an updated version of its Investor’s Guide to Securities Industry Disputes, which offers tools to help investors avoid disputes with their brokers and identify and resolve legitimate grievances that do arise. This 30-page booklet is available at no charge either in print or online.The Investor’s Guide, which is edited by Pace Law School professors and staff of the Pace Investor Rights Clinic, provides answers to such fundamental questions as: “What are best practices for responsible investing?” “What are my broker’s duties to me as a customer?” “What happens at an arbitration hearing?” “What is mediation and why should I agree to use it?”
The Investor Rights Clinic first authored, produced and distributed the Investor’s Guide in 2009-10 using a grant of approximately $150,000 from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The grant included funds to update and redistribute the booklet in 2011.
“We have learned from investors seeking legal assistance in our Investor Rights Clinic that they do not understand their legal rights in order to prevent disputes with their brokers, do not know how to pursue remedies available to them, and have a hard time navigating the mediation and arbitration processes,” said Pace Law School Professor Jill Gross, director and supervising attorney at the Investor Rights Clinic and an editor of the Investor’s Guide. “The information contained in the Investor’s Guide uses plain language to demystify the dispute resolution processes offered by FINRA, and clearly outlines investors’ rights and responsibilities, as well as the duties a broker owes to her/his customers.”
Prof. Gross is available to speak to the media about the information contained in the Investor’s Guide.
The updated Investor’s Guide is available online on the FINRA Foundation’s website. Investors and organizations can also obtain print copies of the Investor’s Guide by contacting Edward Pekarek, assistant director and supervising attorney at the Investor Rights Clinic, at JJLS@law.pace.edu, or at (800) 836-7223.
The Pace Investor Rights Clinic, operating as part of John Jay Legal Services at Pace Law School, is a non-profit organization offering free legal services to eligible individual investors who have disputes with their securities brokers and brokerage firms. PIRC aims to protect the rights of individual investors, particularly investors of modest means who traditionally have been underrepresented in the legal system.
Contact:
Lauren Rubenstein
Manager, Media Relations
(914) 422-4389
cell (914) 329-8680
lrubenstein@law.pace.edu
Prof. Jill Gross
Director and Supervising Attorney
Pace Investor Rights Clinic
(914) 422-4061
jgross@law.pace.edu
Founded in 1976, Pace Law School has over 7,000 alumni throughout the country and the world and is consistently ranked among the nation’s top three programs in environmental law. It offers full- and part-time JD programs on its White Plains, NY, campus and offers the Master of Laws degree in Environmental Law and Comparative Legal Studies, and a Doctor of Laws in environmental law. The School of Law is part of Pace University, a comprehensive, independent, and diversified university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County. www.law.pace.edu
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Full press release available here
