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The purpose of this paper is to explain FINRA's recent overhaul of the Discovery Guide for arbitrations.

THe paper explains the new Discovery Guide, the consolidated document production lists, and FINRA's modification of the scope of documents that are to be exchanged by the parties in customer cases, particularly with regard to requiring the production of electronic records.

FINRA's new rule consolidates the lists of presumptively discoverable documents and modifies the scope of documents that are to be exchanged by the parties in customer cases, particularly with regard to requiring the production of electronic records. The new Discovery Guide expands many of the categories of documents deemed to be, presumptively, discoverable for both respondents and claimants in arbitration.

Parties will be forced to re‐visit the types of documents that are presumptively exchanged in a FINRA arbitration. The new Discovery Guide requires parties to exchange electronic records and new categories of documents that were not presumptively discoverable under the prior Discovery Guide. As a result, Firms should consider re‐evaluating their processes for collecting standard documents when defending FINRA arbitration claims.

The paper presents practical guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.

The purpose of this paper is to explain two new FINRA rules: Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) and Rule 2111 (Suitability).

The paper explains the two rules, the expanded requirements in the new suitability rule, and an expansion in the list of factors an associated person is required to consider as part of a customer's investment profile before making a recommendation.

FINRA's new suitability rule is notable for three reasons: the revised rule covers investment strategies and explicit recommendations to hold securities; it expands the necessary factors for making a suitability determination; and it includes definitions for three specific suitability evaluations.

Prior to the effective dates of the new rules, most likely in the Fall of 2011, firms may want to consider whether to develop additional procedures to gather customer “investment profile” information and whether to memorialize that information in written form.

This paper provides practical guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.