Joseph Wojciechowski, PIABA's new president, outlined fears that industry-pushed changes to regulations could weaken arbitration protections for investors in securities disputes.
November 4, 2026
The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association’s new president is worried about the impact industry advocates could have on potential FINRA regulations that the group argues could weaken investor protections.
On Nov. 1, Joseph Wojciechowski took over as president of PIABA, an organization of attorneys who represent claimants in securities arbitration and litigation. Wojciechowski, who is a partner at the Chicago-based law firm Stoltmann Law Offices, said in a statement that investors “have never been under attack from all sides” as they are now.
“FINRA, SEC and (the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) have adopted the Trump strategy: flood the zone and gaslight,” he said. “Dump so much out there that it’s almost impossible to know what to respond to and sometimes even where to start.”
In an interview with Wealth Management, Wojciechowski expanded on his concerns and priorities for the coming year.
Near the top of the list is FINRA’s Regulatory Notice 26-06, an open request for comments on how to update FINRA’s arbitration policies that launched in March of this year and generated over 100 public comments. According to Wojciechowski, the industry remains uncertain of how regulators will approach arbitration reforms (if any).
But he cautioned that if FINRA passes rules that mirror the desires of SIFMA (an advocacy organization for brokerage professionals and firms), then PIABA will inform Congress, regulators and the media “all of the reasons why the requested changes to the arbitration forum are bad for investors.”
Among Wojciechowski’s concerns were the re-introduction of a rule for a “mandatory industry arbitrator,” which PIABA claimed had been pushed by industry advocates. Before 2011, any proceeding above $100,000 required at least one non-public (industry) arbitrator. FINRA eliminated the rule in 2011.
Wojciechowski also worried about potential changes strengthening arbitrators’ abilities to dismiss cases based solely on written documentation and evidence, which he said would “start introducing courtroom litigation and courtroom procedure without all of the safeguards,” such as pleading standards, and the opportunity for parties to rewrite complaints in ways that could survive dismissals.
“None of those safeguards exist (in arbitration),” he said. “You can’t have one without the other. And then if we start adding all the others, now we’re really expanding the scope of arbitration and making it much more like a courtroom, much more like litigation.”
Wojciechowski said the CLARITY Act, Congress’ proposed crypto market-structure legislation that failed to pass this fall, could still survive into a new Congress despite potential Democratic gains in the midterm elections (Wojciechowski’s interview was conducted before Tuesday’s election results showing Democratic control of the House and Senate).
“There’s a lot of momentum to get something going,” he said. “My hope is whatever they decide to reintroduce starts to include some of the things that we advocate for; investor protection, consumer protection, maintaining states’ rights to regulate those assets and expressly providing investors and consumers with a private right of action in the event that the statutes are violated.”
But Wojciechowski held out less hope that he’d see his desired changes at the SEC, noting that the agency’s recent rule on crypto assets proposing limited exemptions was likely “ready to go” in the wake of the CLARITY Act’s failure. He suspected there’d be further rulemaking, including proposals on broker/dealer and investment advisor digital asset recommendations. He also expected the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to advance its own rules.
“Fundamentally, I don’t think the SEC is going to do anything different in the next two years than they’ve done in the last two,” he said.
In addition to Wojciechowski’s new role as president, PIABA announced Courtney Werning as executive vice president/president-elect, Jon Furgison as incoming vice president, August Iorio as secretary and Joshua Kons as treasurer.
About the Author
Patrick Donachie is a senior reporter for Wealth Management, covering federal and state regulation, litigation and M&A deals in financial services. Patrick was born in Staten Island, and now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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