Securities Expert Witness | FINRA Arbitration | Options Expert Witness

Real-World Expertise. 

Bob Lawson brings more than four decades of continuous, hands-on industry experience to FINRA proceedings, informed by his ongoing roles as a Chief Compliance Officer, investment fiduciary with discretionary authority, and Chair-qualified FINRA arbitrator and mediator. 

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He serves as President and Chief Compliance Officer of Barrington Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment adviser he founded in 1988, and as Founder and President of Barrington Financial Consulting Group, Inc., a nationwide securities litigation consulting firm. 

 

The Active Practitioner Advantage 

Bob continues to operate simultaneously in roles that provide a current, operational perspective on how investment, supervision, and compliance decisions are actually made and evaluated in the FINRA forum. 

 

Active Expert Witness 
Bob is actively engaged in FINRA arbitration and securities litigation support involving supervision, suitability, fiduciary duty, and regulatory compliance. His opinions are grounded in contemporaneous evidence and current industry practices, rather than retrospective theories or reconstructed narratives. 

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Chair-Qualified FINRA Arbitrator and Mediator 
As a Chair-qualified FINRA arbitrator and mediator, Bob understands how panels assess credibility, expert methodology, and the persuasive value of evidence. He approaches each engagement with an insider’s understanding of how testimony is evaluated in the arbitration room. 

 

Chief Compliance Officer 
Bob is presently responsible for designing, implementing, and enforcing supervisory systems and regulatory policies at an operating registered investment adviser. When he evaluates alleged compliance or supervision failures, he does so from the perspective of someone with ongoing regulatory accountability—not historical recollection. 

 

Investment Fiduciary 
As a registered Investment Adviser Representative with discretionary authority over client portfolios, Bob bears direct responsibility for suitability, best execution, and fiduciary duty on a daily basis. His opinions reflect how fiduciary obligations function in practice, under real-world constraints. 

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Regulation Best Interest and Investment Adviser Fiduciary Standard

Bob evaluates Regulation Best Interest compliance issues as an active fiduciary practitioner — not a retired one. As Founder and President of Barrington Financial Consulting Group, Inc. and Chief Compliance Officer of Barrington Capital Management, Inc., a registered investment adviser he has operated since 1988, his analysis of alleged Reg BI violations focuses on what the broker-dealer or investment adviser actually did relative to the Care Obligation, Conflict of Interest Obligation, and Disclosure Obligation at the time of the conduct. He holds both the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) and Certified Financial Fiduciary® designations, providing a dual-credentialed fiduciary perspective directly relevant to post-2019 suitability and best interest disputes.

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Standards Applied as They Existed at the Time 

In post-2019 matters, Bob evaluates fiduciary and supervision issues by applying the standards that governed the parties at the time of the conduct, including fiduciary principles under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the SEC’s 2019 Fiduciary Interpretation, and Regulation Best Interest. His analysis focuses on how those standards were understood, implemented, and supervised in practice, as reflected in contemporaneous communications, documentation, and supervisory records, without importing hindsight or post-event reinterpretation. 

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The “Truth-Seeker” Methodology: Substance Over Narratives 

Bob’s methodology is rooted in a straightforward principle: what participants actually did matters more than how conduct is later characterized. 

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He reconstructs factual timelines using contemporaneous evidence—emails, internal memoranda, supervisory records, trade data, and exception reports created before any dispute was anticipated. Bob is frequently consulted at the outset of matters to assess whether allegations are supported by the record. When the evidence does not support a claim or defense, he communicates that assessment promptly. Likewise, if subsequent evidence materially alters the analysis after an engagement begins, he advises counsel as early as practicable rather than allowing opinions—or costs—to drift without factual support. 

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Balanced Retention and Professional Independence 

Bob is retained by counsel representing both claimants and respondents in FINRA proceedings. He views his role as an advocate for accurate findings and defensible conclusions, not for the outcome sought by the retaining party. His independence and disciplined, conduct-based analysis are intended to assist FINRA panels in evaluating evidence within the applicable regulatory framework. 

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Credentials and Technical Foundation 

Bob holds the Certified Securities Compliance Professional (CSCP®), Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE®), Certified Financial Fiduciary®, Master Registered Financial Consultant (MRFC®), and Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF®) designations, and has completed certificate programs in Securities Law and Securities Registration: Financial Institutions & Regulations at Cornell Law School. 

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Industry Examinations and Licenses

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Active Registration:

• Series 65 – Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination (qualified via Series 66 passage; maintained through state IAR registration, Barrington Capital Management, Inc.)

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Previously Held — Inactive (no longer affiliated with a FINRA member firm):

• Series 24 – General Securities Principal Examination (CRD #: 1170465)

• Series 4 – Registered Options Principal Examination

• Series 7 – General Securities Representative Examination

• Series 51 – Municipal Fund Securities Limited Principal Examination

• Series 63 – Uniform Securities State Law Examination

• Series 3 – National Commodities Futures Examination (NFA #192528 — currently inactive)

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Mr. Lawson serves as a Director, Board Member, or Member for the following organizations:

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• Securities Experts Roundtable (SER) Former Practice Management Chair and Director – Current Member

• Minnesota State Bar Association – Former ADR Membership Chair and Current Member

• Master Registered Financial Consultants (MRFC®) Former Chair and Current Member

• International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC)

• CFA Institute - Member

• CFA Society of Minnesota - Member​

• National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) – Member

• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) – Member

• Twin Cities Chapter Certified Fraud Examiners (TCCFE) – Former Board Member

• Member Thomson Reuters Expert Witness

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