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Earlier this week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed into law Senate Bill 359 – the Georgia COVID-19 Pandemic Business Safety Act – passed by the Georgia legislature to provide certain liability protections for Georgia busines...

If you're going to buy or sell a business in Georgia, it really is critical to know exactly what you are buying or selling. While that sounds simple and obvious, it's often an issue that some buyers and sellers don't consider. For example, a typical introductory phone call to me from a pros...

Here at The Beck Law Firm, LLC, we routinely get calls from financial advisors from across the country looking for help in cleaning up their Form U4 where possible. Sometimes, they seek expungement of criminal history disclosur...

At the end of 2018, the Court of Appeals of Georgia issued a decision in a case involving restrictive covenants under the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act.Specifically, in this case, Kennedy v. The Shave Barber Company, LLC (Georgia Court of Appeals Case # A18A1660, decided December 20, 2018) th...

In my law practice, I work with a lot of professionals such as financial advisors. Sometimes, these people have a blemish in their background. Often it involves an arrest for something relatively minor when they were young and dumb. For example, there might be an arrest for shoplifting or propert...

Today, we're going to address the question of “What should I do about my U5 when I leave a firm?” This is a great question that every financial advisor needs to consider when leaving a firm. In an earlier video, I explained what a U5 is and what it does. In today's video, we're going to spe...

Today, we're going to answer the question “What is the Form U5?” Technically, the form is called the Uniform Termination Notice for Securities Industry Registration, and it is used whenever a person registered with a broker-dealer or a registered investment adviser terminates his or her resignati...

One of the questions we sometimes get from financial advisors goes like this, “I've been arrested. Do I have to disclose that on my Form U4?” The range of underlying events I anything from a traffic violation to a very serious offense. Generally speaking the answer is, “No,” because in most...

One of the questions we get from time to time is from a financial adviser who has called us and said, “FINRA wants to take my testimony, they've told me they want me to come in for an OTR. Why? Why do they want to take an OTR of me?” That's a good question. Essentially what it means when FI...

If you are an employer, you may have questions about whether you can have your employees sign a covenant not to compete, or not to solicit your clients or other employees. One of your questions is almost certainly whether those types of agreements can be enforced in Georgia? Some people bel...

If you're a financial adviser with negative disclosures on your Form U4 and in your CRD record, it really does make sense to see what you can do to clean that up. Those negative disclosures not only sit there and may cause problems when your prospects or clients review it, but it can also hinder ...

More often than you might imagine, I get a call from a financial advisor – someone who is a registered representative of a broker-dealer or an investment adviser representative of a registered investment adviser firm – and they ask a question like one of these: What do I need to know if I'v...

If you are a financial advisor who is a Certified Financial Planner ®, you should be careful when responding to a Notice of Investigation from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (the CFP Board). Sending you the Notice is the formal manner in which an investigation into your ...

We get calls pretty regularly from financial advisors who've been asked to come in for an OTR, or an on-the-record interview with FINRA. And in an earlier video, we explained what an OTR is. In today's short video, we'll talk about how a FINRA OTR works. If you're going in for an OTR or an ...

If you've been terminated from a broker-dealer, regardless of the label placed on it such as a discharge or permitted to resign or even a voluntary termination under the cloud of an internal investigation, you've probably got some significant questions. What do I do now? How will this affect my c...

If you are considering purchasing a business, be sure to do your due diligence. What's that? Doing your due diligence means that you should conduct a detailed and thorough investigation of various facets of the bu...

Wrapping up the U4 Basics blog post series, today, we'll look at three other U4 disclosure areas: outside business activities, regulatory events, and terminations. OBAs (outside business activities) are to be disclosed in Item 13 of the Form U4. Note the detail that is sought about each act...

Continuing on in this series on the Form U4, in this post we'll address some issues regarding disclosing customer complaints, litigation and arbitration. On the Form U4, Items 14H & 14I seeks information on civil judicial cases and customer complaint/arbitration disclosure. Here, applicants...

Take a look at any month's disciplinary notices from FINRA and count the number of disciplinary actions against brokers involving violations related to their Form U4. Odds are good that you'll find at least a handful a month. What's troubling is that these violations are totally preventable. All ...

As we continue to review basic information regarding the Form U4, in this post, we'll address some disclosable events regarding criminal history disclosure. Generally speaking, the Form U4 is a very straightforward document, when taken together with the official instructions for completion of the...

Each month, you'll likely find financial advisors who have been disciplined by FINRA for violations of rules relating to the Form U4. In this short blog series on U4 basics, we'll seek to help you understand what a U4 is, what it means to your career as a financial advisor, some common pitfalls t...

You've corresponded with FINRA and answered some questions they had, or provided them a written statement about a matter. Now, you've received a letter from FINRA stating that they have referred your case to the Enforcement Department. What does that mean, and what might you need to do? In the sh...

In this fifth video in our blog series on understanding a FINRA exam, attorney Joel Beck discusses the “Wells” letter (or “Wells” call) as part of the FINRA examination or investigation process. The “Wells” notice is essentially the regulator providing the registered or associated person with off...

In this fourth installment of our video blog series on understanding a FINRA exam, attorney Joel Beck discusses the pre-complaint settlement tool utilized by FINRA, the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) and shares some of the key features of this settlement, together with a word of c...

In this third installment of our video blog series, attorney Joel Beck discusses the three common ways that a FINRA exam gets resolved, either through the exam being filed without action, resolved through an informal action, or resolved through a formal disciplinary action against the registered ...