Losses that weren’t your fault may be recoverable.
You placed your savings in the hands of a professional. If your account shows unexpected losses, ClearScope Counsel LLC works to recover your funds — advocating for individual investors, retirees, and families through FINRA arbitration and other securities disputes against broker-dealers, registered reps, and investment advisers. Based in Missouri, reviewing cases for investors in Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana.
Please do not send account statements, personal financial information, or other sensitive documents until we have completed a conflicts check. A preliminary inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship.
What we pursue for investors who were wronged.
When an advisor, broker, or firm fails to act responsibly, the damage reaches far beyond an account balance. We build a clear record, assess the available claims, and pursue a strategy tailored to the loss and your goals. Every matter begins with a candid fit assessment, not a promise about results.
Unsuitable recommendations
Investments or strategies that did not match your objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance, liquidity needs, or income needs.
- Concentrated or over-weighted positions
- Variable & indexed annuities
- Structured & market-linked notes
- Non-traded REITs
- Private placements & Reg D offerings
- Leveraged & inverse products
- Margin and options strategies
Unauthorized trading
Trades, transfers, account changes, or withdrawals you did not approve, or never had a meaningful chance to understand.
- Trades placed without consent
- Discretion exercised without authority
- Unapproved transfers & withdrawals
- Changed beneficiary or account titling
- Forged or altered paperwork
Excessive trading & churning
Trading that appears driven by commissions or production rather than your investment objectives.
- High turnover rates
- Cost-to-equity ratios that outrun returns
- In-and-out trading
- Mutual fund switching
- Unnecessary annuity exchanges
Breach of fiduciary duty & misrepresentation
Advice, omissions, conflicts, or conduct that may have put the professional’s interests ahead of yours.
- Undisclosed conflicts & compensation
- Misstated risk or return
- Omitted material facts
- Failure to supervise
- Negligence in account handling
Outside-business & private-investment losses
Losses tied to undisclosed or improperly supervised outside business activity, private deals, promissory notes, or other investments outside the ordinary account process.
- Selling away
- Promissory notes
- Private funds & side ventures
- Undisclosed outside business activity
- Payments sent to an advisor personally
Older-investor exploitation
Unusual transfers, financial exploitation, or unexplained account changes affecting retirees and vulnerable adults. See our guide to elder financial exploitation.
- Unexplained transfers & withdrawals
- New or changed beneficiaries
- Trusted-contact and Rule 2165 failures
- Cognitive-decline red flags missed
- Retirement savings placed at risk
Is something wrong with your account?
You may benefit from a case review if you are seeing any of the following.
- Trades you did not authorize or cannot explain
- A sudden strategy shift that feels inconsistent with what you discussed
- Large losses after being told an investment was low-risk, protected, or dependable
- Frequent buying and selling in an account intended for long-term investing
- Money directed to an advisor personally, to a private venture, or to an unfamiliar platform
- Pressure to act quickly, keep an investment private, or avoid asking questions
- A professional who communicated outside ordinary firm channels or avoided written explanations
These signs do not establish a claim by themselves. They are reasons to preserve records and obtain an informed legal assessment.
The case gets built long before the hearing.
Depending on the matter, a focused case plan may include:
- Reconstructing the account story from agreements, statements, trade records, communications, and your investment objectives
- Evaluating forum eligibility, potential claims, defenses, deadlines, and requested remedies
- Drafting a clear Statement of Claim that combines the key facts, governing duties, loss theory, and your requested relief
- Planning document discovery, follow-up requests, and non-party evidence
- Reviewing arbitrator disclosures and ranking candidates against the needs of the case
- Assessing early whether an industry, product, standard-of-care, or damages expert would materially strengthen the claim
- Preparing witnesses, exhibits, mediation strategy, and the final hearing presentation
Clear steps. No manufactured urgency.
You do not need every document or legal theory figured out before reaching out.
Preliminary intake & conflicts screening
We discuss who was involved, what happened, what you invested, what you were told, and what you want to accomplish. We screen for conflicts before requesting sensitive records.
Record & claim assessment
Once conflicts are cleared, we identify the documents that matter and assess the procedural path, potential claims, deadlines, and damages evidence.
Strategy & engagement
If the matter is a fit, you receive a written engagement proposal explaining the contingency fee, expenses, and next steps before representation begins.
Pursuit of the matter
We develop the case and pursue the appropriate resolution path, including a Statement of Claim, arbitrator selection, discovery, mediation, and hearing preparation when FINRA arbitration applies.
If we don’t recover, there is no fee.
For qualifying investor-recovery matters, the fee is a flat 33% of any amount recovered.
33% contingency
A flat one-third of any recovery. No tiered increases, no hidden math.
Nothing upfront
No upfront attorney fees or costs. You pay nothing unless we recover on your behalf.
In writing, before we start
The percentage and how expenses are handled are confirmed in a written contingency fee agreement before representation begins.
No recovery is guaranteed. A free intake discussion does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Industry experience, pointed back at the industry.
Also serves on FINRA’s dispute-resolution arbitrator roster, subject to FINRA’s neutrality and continuing-disclosure rules.
Midwest corridor focus.
ClearScope Counsel is based in Missouri and evaluates FINRA arbitration matters across the Midwest corridor.
Representation in a FINRA matter is subject to conflicts, the particular facts, and any jurisdictional requirements that apply to the engagement. We may associate or refer local counsel when appropriate.
FINRA disclosure expungement for brokers & registered reps.
Investor and claimant representation is the practice priority. ClearScope Counsel LLC may also accept defined FINRA Rule 2080 expungement matters, removing eligible customer dispute information from BrokerCheck, when they do not conflict with the current investor-side docket.
Disclosure expungement (Rule 2080) — flat fee starting at $7,500, confirmed after a scoping call
- Eligibility review against Rule 2080’s narrow standards
- Drafting and filing the expungement request
- Hearing preparation, even for unopposed matters
- Coordination of any required court confirmation, filed in Missouri
FINRA’s own filing and hearing fees are separate, paid directly to FINRA, and not included in this flat fee. Accepted selectively and screened for conflicts with our investor-side matters.
Not ready to call yet?
The Broker-Dealer vs. Investment Adviser guide explains the two professional types and how to check a professional’s record. Concerned about an aging parent or relative? Start with the elder financial exploitation guide.
Questions investors ask first.
Many disputes between customers and FINRA member firms or their associated persons are resolved through FINRA’s arbitration forum rather than a court case. Whether it applies depends on the parties, agreement, claims, and facts of the matter.
Losses alone do not establish a legal claim. A review looks at what was recommended or done, what you were told, your investment profile and instructions, the account record, the cause of the loss, and applicable deadlines.
Deadlines can be complicated and fact-specific, and they vary by claim type and forum. Do not wait to get a timely assessment simply because you are still gathering records.
FINRA arbitration matters are evaluated for investors in Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana. Outside that area, we will be direct about whether a referral to local counsel makes more sense than an engagement here.
For qualifying investor-recovery matters, the fee is a flat 33% of any amount recovered. There are no upfront attorney fees or costs — you pay nothing unless we recover on your behalf. The exact terms are confirmed in a written contingency fee agreement before representation begins.
No. An attorney-client relationship begins only after conflicts are cleared and a written engagement agreement is signed.
Bring what you know. We’ll help you identify what matters next.
The first question is not whether we can promise a result. It is whether your experience deserves a careful, disciplined review. No attorney-client relationship is created until conflicts are cleared and an engagement agreement is signed.