Securities & Insurance Expert Witness

Securities Expert Witness | FINRA Arbitration | Options Expert Witness

Bob Lawson, AIF®, MRFC®, CFE®, LUTCF®

FINRA & NFA Arbitration Chairperson | FINRA Mediator

With over 35 years of financial services experience, Mr. Bob Lawson is a Securities and Insurance Expert Witness and Litigation Support Consultant for FINRA arbitration, mediation, and Civil/Federal/Criminal Court proceedings.

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Mr. Lawson presides as a FINRA & NFA Arbitration Chairperson and FINRA Mediator for disputes concerning investors, financial services professionals, broker-dealers, intra-industry disputes, and dually-registered investment advisers. Claims often arise regarding breach of fiduciary obligations, employment disputes, conflicts of interest, churning, unsuitable investments, and failure to supervise. The written awards of panels for which he has sat are published on www.FINRA.org and Westlaw.

Mr. Lawson is the President of Barrington Financial Consulting Group, Inc., a securities litigation consulting firm. In 1988, Mr. Lawson founded Barrington Capital Management, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm and Insurance Agency, where he continues to serve as the President and Chief Compliance Officer. He is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE®), Master Registered Financial Consultant (MRFC®), and a Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF®).
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His breadth of securities experience includes managing and supervising FINRA broker-dealer branch offices as a Registered Securities Principal, Options Principal, and Chief Compliance Officer. As a former branch manager of a nationally-recognized broker-dealer, Mr. Lawson possesses special expertise with options trading and investing, including complex options spreads, hedging, and risk-defined strategies. Mr. Lawson also has considerable experience with insurance products including variable annuities, fixed and indexed annuities, long term care, and life insurance.
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Bob is the Membership Chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association ADR Section and is a Board Member for the Securities Experts Roundtable, an organization of securities experts in the United States. He is recognized by the Minnesota Supreme Court as a Qualified Neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice as a Civil Facilitative/Hybrid Mediator and Adjudicative/Evaluative Arbitrator. He is an active mediator with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Minnesota and the Dakotas and member of the American Arbitration Association Mediation Section.

Mr. Lawson's Curriculum Vitae

FINRA Rules Resource Guide

White Paper: Selling Away

White Paper: FINRA Dispute Resolution Essentials

Annuities & Life Insurance
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•  Fixed Annuities​

• Fixed Indexed Annuities 

• Variable Annuities​

• Indexed Universal Life

• Variable Universal Life

• ​Underwriting Procedures

• ​Suitability Considerations

• ​Independent Marketing Organizations (IMO) Liability

• ​Annuity Replacements

• Long-Term Care Insurance

• ​Failure to Disclose​

• Annuity Churning 

Securities & Institutions
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• Breach of Fiduciary Duty

• Broker-Dealer Disputes & Investment Adviser Disputes

• Employment Issues

• Options Trading​

• Failure to Supervise​

• Investor Suitability​

• Concentrated Portfolios​​

• Compliance Obligations​

• Securities Fraud​

• Selling Away​

• Promissory Notes​

• Private Placements

• Selling Away & OBAs

FINRA & Court Proceedings​

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•  Expert Testimony

• White Collar Crime

• Initial Case Evaluation

• Filing a Claim

• Discovery Guidance

• Party Identification

• Document Review​

• Assistance with Pleadings & Responses

• Expert Reports & Affidavits

• Damage Analysis

• Registered Representative Patterns of Abuse​

• ​FINRA Sanctions 

Qualified to Present Expert Testimony, Representative but not Inclusive: