On May 17th, Professor Christine Lazaro participated on a panel hosted by CJM Wealth
Management and the Association of Certified Chief Financial Officers. The panel discussed the Department of Labor’s recently adopted rule which imposes a fiduciary duty on those who provide certain types of investment advice to retirement investors. In addition to Professor Lazaro, the panel included Ary Rosenbaum, an ERISA attorney, Suzanne Breit, a CPA, and Ronald K. Stair, an actuary. The audience included Chief Financial Officers and retirement plan administrators.
May 18, 2016
Lazaro Participates on Panel on DOL’s New Fiduciary Duty Rule
March 3, 2016
Lazaro presents on the DOL Fiduciary Rule Proposal at NYCLA Committee Meeting
Christine Lazaro
Professor Christine Lazaro gave a presentation about the Department of Labor’s fiduciary duty rule proposal to the Securities and Exchanges Committee of New York County Lawyers’ Association on March 1st. The rule proposal, which is expected to have a major impact on the financial services industry, is under review by the Office of Management and Budget and is expected to be released soon.
February 1, 2016
Lazaro Quoted on Fiduciary Duty Rule Proposal
Christine Lazaro
Professor Christine Lazaro was quoted in Investment News on the Department of Labor’s pending rule proposal regarding the definition of fiduciary under ERISA:
“The Department of Labor has done a pretty significant job in listening to all the stakeholders over the last five-year period,” said Christine Lazaro, associate professor of clinical legal education at St. John’s University. “To imply they haven’t fully considered the cost benefit analysis of the rule’s impact is misleading.”
The rule proposal was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget on January 28, 2016, prior to its being released to the public in the Federal Register.
October 27, 2015
Lazaro Participates in Panels at Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association’s Annual Meeting and Securities Law Seminar
This past week, Professor Christine Lazaro attended the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association’s 
(PIABA) Annual Meeting and Securities Law Seminar. Professor Lazaro participated as a panelist on two panels, “Overcoming Comparative Fault, Ratification and Other Common Brokerage Defenses” and “Supervisory and Compliance Structures of Brokerage Firms,” and moderated a third panel, “Case Law Round-up/Hot Topics.” Additionally, Professor Lazaro submitted an article for the written materials for the program, “Supervision and Compliance of Brokerage Firms.” During the meeting, Professor Lazaro was elected to PIABA’s Board of Directors and was appointed co-chair of its Fiduciary Duty Committee.
October 15, 2015
Lazaro Speaks at TD Ameritrade’s 2015 Advocacy Leadership Summit
On October 6, 2015, Professor Christine Lazaro spoke at TD Ameritrade’s 2015 Advocacy Leadership Summit. Earlier in the year, Professor Lazaro co-authored a report for PIABA which compared the image brokerage firms project to the public in their advertising and on their websites with the position firms take in arbitration when it is alleged that they have breached their fiduciary duties to customers. Professor Lazaro was asked to present PIABA’s findings and discuss the implications for investors and the financial services industry, as well as the recent Department of Labor proposal to change the standards for brokers and investment advisers providing retirement advice to investors. Here is the press release for the Summit.
April 21, 2015
Lazaro Quoted in On Wall Street Followup Story
Christine Lazaro
On Wall Street followed up with another article on the DOL fiduciary duty rule proposal, focusing on rollovers and IRAs. The article, Is Your Rollover Business at Risk Under Fiduciary Plan?, written by Suleman Din, included the following quote:
It is important that rollovers and IRAs are included in the fiduciary standard now, says Christine Lazaro, director of the Securities Arbitration Clinic at St. John’s University School of Law.
“As individuals retire and are faced with the decision of what to do with the money in their employer-sponsored plans, they often seek advice from investment professionals, expecting that the advice they receive will be in their best interests,” Lazaro says. “At that point in time, when they are being advised to move their money into IRAs managed by the investment professional, it is essential that the investment professional is held to the highest standards to protect the retirement savings of Americans.
“The standards shouldn’t only apply after the money has been moved,” Lazaro adds. “If it is not in the investor’s best interest to move the money out of the employer-sponsored plan, it should be left alone. The profit motives of firms cannot and should not drive the decision to move an investor’s retirement savings out of the employer-sponsored plans.”
April 17, 2015
Lazaro Quoted in On Wall Street
Christine Lazaro
Professor Lazaro commented on the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to extend a fiduciary standard to those providing investment advice to clients on retirement accounts in an article in On Wall Street, Tougher Rules But Flexible Comp Under New Fiduciary Proposal. The article, written by Andrew Welsch and Suleman Din, states:
Critics should remember that the DOL had initially come out with a fiduciary standard proposal in 2010, then pulled it and spent the next five years seeking additional comment and revising rules, said Christine Lazaro, director of the Securities Arbitration Clinic at St. John’s University School of Law.
“It’s not like they’ve moved forward quickly or haphazardly, or without considering viewpoints that they needed to,” Lazaro said. “They’ve moved forward carefully and I think thoughtfully in the process.”
The DoL proposal will be filed in the Federal register and will again be open for public comment, she added. “So there will be another opportunity for anyone to voice their concerns. The fact that they are moving forward faster than the SEC on a fiduciary standard doesn’t mean they haven’t given full consideration of viewpoints that they should be considering.”
Lazaro found little in the proposal for the industry to be alarmed about.
“It does seem like the general business models will be permitted,” Lazaro noted. “There really isn’t any need to panic. The major concerns raised by the industry regarding commissions and revenue sharing, these would be permitted to continue, so long as the advice given is in the best interest of the investor.”
“There are plenty of situations where advisors are already held to fiduciary duty, such as under state common law standards. It’s not like strict standards haven’t been tested and brokers haven’t been held to these standards already. It’s not a foreign concept when it comes to brokers.”
March 12, 2015
Lazaro Participates in SAC Podcast
Christine Lazaro
On February 26, Professor Christine Lazaro participated in the Securities Arbitration Commentator Podcast, “WHITHER (OR WITHER) THE FINRA MEDIATION PROGRAM?” George H. Friedman, former FINRA Director of Arbitration and long-time SAC Board of Editors member, moderated the discussion. In addition to Professor Lazaro, panelists included: mediator Roger M. Deitz, Esq.; Linda Drucker, Esq., Associate General Counsel, Charles Schwab & Co. Inc.; and Joe Peiffer, Esq., Partner, Peiffer Roca Wolf Abdullah Carr and Kane, LLC. SAC chose as the topic of discussion securities mediation today, in general terms, but, more specifically, the continuing role of FINRA’s Mediation Department. FINRA’s mediation program – the first in the securities field – is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. Over the past two decades, over 17,000 disputes have been referred to FINRA mediation. As we enter 2015, the program is at a crossroad. The number of staff dedicated to mediation has declined and competitors have emerged in the form of other dispute resolution providers and, even, the mediators themselves.
The program began with an overview of the history of the mediation program at FINRA. The conversation turned next to the contribution that technology now makes to securities mediations and the prospects for the future. Mr. Friedman ended the mediation podcast with a roll call of the panelists on what they foresee for securities mediation and FINRA’s Mediation Department five years from now.
