Enter bashing: Finra small-firm candidates tee off on each other

Two small-firm candidates have lost no time in squaring off for a small-firm seat on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.'s appeals board. Finra this week said compliance consultant Karen Fischer had obtained enough signatures to get on the ballot for a spot on Finra's National Adjudicatory Council. She is running against David Sobel, the general counsel at Abel/Noser Corp., who was nominated by Finra's selection committee. The NAC reviews disciplinary decisions issued by Finra hearing panels and hears appeals. Mr. Sobel was "picked by Finra. We don't know how — probably on the golf course somewhere," Ms. Fischer said. "I'm a compliance consultant, so I deal with this stuff day to day." Ms. Fischer added that the NAC is comprised of too many attorneys like Mr. Sobel. Not surprisingly, Mr. Sobel did not exactly see eye-to-eye with Ms. Fischer. "Do you want another attorney on the NAC?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, yeah, of course you want attorneys on the NAC." He noted that NAC members have to sort through legal issues in dealing with cases. He went on to state that he is also a full-time compliance officer — and bashed his opponent. "She's a rent-a-finop," he said, referring to Ms. Fischer's work in doing financial operations consulting with a number of broker-dealers. "How many hearings has she handled, how many enforcement actions, how many briefs, how many charge memorandums?" he asked. "If she gets an appeal brief, will she know what it means? I don't think she has the experience or the knowledge to be on the NAC." Ms. Fischer countered, noting: "I'm an arbitrator, and have been on couple [Finra] disciplinary panels." Ballots for the open NAC seat went out yesterday, with voting to conclude Nov. 18. If the start of the race is any indication, this is one campaign that should prove to be pretty interesting.