There are many firms who have multiple employees or associates that are involved in the firm’s securities work. Often, the lawyer and the client are never fully aware of which individual is conducting the research and analysis for their case. At those firms, you may hire an expert based on his credentials, yet much of the work in your case is done by individuals who have very limited experience. That is not in the best interest of the client. You always want the person that’s going to be giving the sworn testimony to be the very same person who did the work. Since Mr. Schulz is a sole practitioner, that is never an issue. Also, Mr.Schulz knows many securities experts who have been out of the industry for quite a long time and their expert witness work is often just an adjunct to other work, interests and hobbies. Mr. Schulz has lived, breathed and slept securities, investments, securities regulation and litigation for 34 years. And it goes back even further when you consider he started trading securities fairly actively back in the sixth grade. Mr. Schulz has been hired in over 1,175 cases and loves his work. His wife Tracy Pride Stoneman is a nationally recognized securities lawyer who works on securities exclusively. Living on their 160-acre ranch in the mountains in southern Colorado in a very remote location allows them both to work a 60 to 80 hour week. Their cocktail and dinner hours are spent in rigorous conversation and debate on the most topical securities issues of the day, and on each of their cases. Much of the couple’s time is spent in rigorous conversation and debate on each of their cases or the most topical securities issues of the day.

Yes, it is common for Mr. Schulz to be hired as a securities litigation/arbitration consultant. Often, Mr. Schulz is contacted by lawyers who don’t have a lot of experience in FINRA arbitrations. This creates a special challenge for that lawyer and his or her client, because the defense counsel is almost always very experienced in this special field of litigation. Of course, his 1,175 cases provide him with an excellent working knowledge of every single aspect of FINRA arbitrations. Additionally, for roughly 30 years, he has worked very closely with his wife who does exclusively securities litigation representing both stockbrokers and investors. For these and other reasons, the less experienced lawyers often are thrilled to find an expert that can wear two hats. In addition to his regular securities expert witness assistance, he often helps the attorney on such subjects as drafting the Statement of Claim, the arbitrator selection process, the document and information discovery process, motions, and briefs, etc.

The discovery process in securities arbitration is where each party attempts to obtain all of the key, important documents that they feel will assist in the prosecution or defense of the case. One of the first articles Mr. Schulz wrote, in conjunction with his wife, was on the discovery process (see Securities Arbitration Commentator article dated November, 1990). Twenty-eight years later, the process is still imperfect in that brokerage firms go to great lengths to prevent the production of harmful documents. Mr. Schulz can be a great asset in this area for two reasons. First, he is infinitely familiar with what documents are necessary for any given case. He has seen just about every account form, commission/production run, the various compliance and policy and procedure manuals for the majority of broker-dealers in the country. Second, he is often called upon to draft discovery requests and to assist counsel with arguments for production for the preliminary hearing regarding those requests.

In a FINRA arbitration where I was the securities expert for the claimant, the claim was that Ameritrade made improper margin liquidations, many of which involved options. An additional claim was that TD Ameritrade illegally restricted or canceled some of the claimant’s option trades. The Panel awarded $2,082,148 on September 22, 2021. Elliott vs. T.D Ameritrade, FINRA Case No. 20-00400. In a FINRA arbitration where I was the securities expert for the claimant, the claimant was a professional option trader who had traded complex option strategies (Iron Condors, etc.) for years at TD Ameritrade. The arbitration claim was that TD Ameritrade wrongly restricted the claimant’s options trading and made improper and unfair margin liquidations. The panel awarded $6,924,538 on July 8, 2010. Daydream vs. T.D. Ameritrade FINRA Case No. 09-02054.

In response to the question, the following is a brief list of some cases I was involved with between roughly 2018 and 2022, some results and awards.

– Claimant v. major brokerage firm, Louisiana, $3.15 million arbitration award, panel awarded $140,000 in expert fees (I was the sole expert) and since $1.5 million were the out of pockets, this is a significant well-managed, comparative award

– Claimant v. major regional brokerage firm, California, $1 million arbitration award (client made $4 million in his account, so this was all well-managed comparative damages)

– Claimant v. major regional brokerage firm, Arizona, $100,000 punitive arbitration award

– Claimant v. major brokerage firm, North Carolina, $125,000 consisting of all well-managed damages

– Claimant v. major regional brokerage firm, Arizona, $920,000 which included well-managed damages and interest, $58,000 my expert fees and $246,000 in attorney’s fees

– Claimant v. major internet brokerage firm, California, $720,000 well-managed damages, and expert fees

– Claimant v. regional money manager, New Mexico, arbitration, $519,000 mostly well-managed damages. (I assisted throughout the case, but ended up not testifying)

– 80% of the cases I am involved in, settle, favorably.

-Tesla Motors vs. Tesla employee – I was the expert for the defendant Tesla employee where I proved the Tesla stock was not affected negatively due to the employee’s online comments. Case by Tesla settled/dismissed.

Mr. Schulz spends time educating investors and attempting to work with regulators in improving the securities markets and environment for investors. He has spoken and testified before numerous state and federal elected representatives. He participated in the Ruder Task Force and often works with investigators on a state, federal and local level.  Mr. Schulz was a key witness for the SEC in their major investigation into the sale of limited partnerships and private placements in the late eighties and early nineties. His most recent article on Power of Attorney accounts at Internet/online brokerage firms is an attempt to prompt the regulators to be more proactive regulating Internet/online brokerage firms.