Bryan T. Forman Background & Qualifications

Background

Bryan T. Forman is a licensed Texas attorney-mediator residing in Austin, Texas. He has been engaged in the private practice of law since 1987 and has spent the majority of his career in the brokerage industry, serving as Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel for brokerage firms which he founded. Concurrently, he gained experience in the private equity field, founding a private equity hedge fund whose strategy was private equity investments into public companies. His legal practice is focused on representing public investors and market participants in the securities industry. Mr. Forman received his Juris Doctor degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1987, and his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from The University of Texas/Austin in 1984.

Mediation

Prior to establishing a successful arbitration practice, Mr. Forman provided mediation services primarily to the securities brokerage industry and business community, conducting mediations in all areas of the country. He is an approved mediator for FINRA and the NFA, utilizing a hands-on, evaluative mediation style and through his industry experience is able to assist counsel and parties in successfully reaching a resolution of complex disputes in the securities industry. Additionally, he mediates all forms of business and commercial disputes. He is an approved attorney-mediator in Texas, and has been a member of several mediation and alternative dispute resolution organizations. He has held the status of a “Credentialed Mediator” by the Texas Mediator Credentialing Association.

Arbitration & Litigation

Mr. Forman is a licensed Texas attorney and owner of Forman Law Firm, P.C. Mr. Forman represents parties in the brokerage and securities industry, including brokerage firms, customers, registered representatives, officers and directors, shareholders, limited partners and other participants in the investment industry.

Expert Witness Consulting

Mr. Forman serves as a consulting and testifying expert witness for counsel involved in securities disputes. Typically, his engagement will cover investigation of claims and parties, profit and loss analysis of customer accounts, commission and turnover analysis, damage calculations, determination of suitability and industry standards of care, research of industry rules and regulations and their applicability to the case, discovery, settlement and hearing strategies, demonstrative evidence, and attendance at settlement conferences, mediations and hearings, including testifying before the applicable tribunal.

Experience

From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Forman served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for two brokerage firms located in Dallas and Austin, Texas. From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Forman was founder, Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Board of First Avantus Securities, Inc. (f/k/a First Financial Investment Securities, Inc.), a Texas based stock brokerage firm and investment bank which he founded in 1996. He sold his interest in the firm to pursue a mediation and law practice in the securities industry. His duties included overall management of the brokerage, corporate finance, and research and trading operations of the firm, in addition to managing his clients’ personal accounts. He was also responsible for compliance training of all branch management.

Prior to founding First Financial, Mr. Forman served as President, Compliance Officer and General Counsel of Dallas Research & Trading, Inc., a boutique research and trading brokerage firm which he co-founded. His duties included all regulatory and business affairs of the firm.

In the year 2000, Mr. Forman was elected to serve on the District Committee of the National Association of Securities Dealers for District 6, and served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Committee in years 2001 and 2002/3 respectively. Mr. Forman also was elected to the NASD Small Firm Advisory Board. The Small Firm Advisory Board acts to ensure that issues of particular interest and concern to smaller member firms, and the potential impact on smaller firms of regulatory and market structure initiatives, will be effectively communicated to and considered by the NASD Board of Governors. Additionally, Mr. Forman served on the Advisory Council of the NASD, a council made up of Chairpersons of the District Committees to originate and review regulatory and market structure initiatives for the NASD membership.

Mr. Forman also founded and managed a Texas based investment advisory firm which managed a series of hedge fund investments for accredited investors.

Mr. Forman serves as a Chairperson Arbitrator and Mediator for FINRA, and was included in the roster of arbitrators and mediators for the NYSE and NFA. Prior to entering the securities industry in 1991, Mr. Forman was engaged in the private practice of law for a large law firm in Dallas, Texas. He has attended basic and advanced mediator and arbitration training, and continues his legal education in the securities regulation and business law fields. He is an active investor.

Related Affiliations and Memberships, Past and Present

• Association of Attorney Mediators, National and Central Texas Chapters
• American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution
• State Bar of Texas
• Travis County Bar Association
• Smith County Bar Association
• Dallas Bar Association
• Houston Bar Association
• National Association of Securities Dealers
• Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (Experts, Mediators & Consultants Roster)
• Approved ADR Provider for United States District Court for Western and Southern Districts of Texas

Licenses and Training (Past and Present)

• Texas – License to Practice Law (1987)
• Texas – Approved attorney-mediator (1994)
• Texas – Attorney-Mediators Institute, Inc., Forty-hour Course in Mediation (1994).
• Texas – Center For Public Policy Dispute Resolution, University of Texas School of Law, One Week Mediation Course (2003)
• California – The Straus Institute For Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, 16th Annual Summer Professional Skills Program in Dispute Resolution (2003)
• NASD – Approved Mediator
• NASD – Series 7 Registered Representatives License (1991 to 2005)
• NASD – Series 24 General Securities Principals License (1991 to 2005)
• NASD – Series 27 Financial & Operations Principals License (1996 to 2005)
• NASD – Series 63 Multi-State Registered Representative License (1991 to 2005)
• Texas – Life & Disability Insurance Agent (1993 to 1999, and 2000 to 2002)
• NASD – Arbitrator Training and Arbitration Chairperson Training

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• State Bar of Texas, “Books and Records Compliance, Including Supervision”, March 24, 2004.
• Dallas Bar Association, “Broker Supervision: New Rules and Perspectives for Claimants’ Counsel and Defense Counsel”, January 26, 2004.
• Houston Bar Association, “Supervision in the Brokerage Industry”, Presented to the Securities Litigation & Arbitration Section, September 18, 2003.
• National Regulatory Services, “Updating Your Risk Management System to Meet New Regulation”; 19th Annual Spring Compliance Conference, April 13-16, 2004.
• Smith County Bar Association, “Investors Claims/Defenses in NASD Arbitrations”, February 11, 2005.
• Moderator; “Telling a Story In Arbitration”, 2012 PIABA Annual Meeting.
• Judge, University of Texas at Tyler, Ethics Bowl Competition
• Speaker: Smith County Peace Officer Luncheon: “Stockbroker Fraud”
• To download a copy of Mr. Forman’s Curriculum Vitae, please click here.

Additional Memberships

• Member of PIABA –Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association
• PIABA members are involved in promoting the interests of the public investor in securities and commodities arbitration by:
  • Protecting public investors from abuses prevalent in the arbitration processes.
  • Making securities arbitration just and fair; and
  • Creating a level playing field for the public investor in securities arbitration.