James Eccleston heads the securities practice at SNSFE, where he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.  

He represents financial services professionals nationwide in arbitration, compliance and employment matters, including succession planning and negotiation of promissory note and employment agreements for advisers transitioning with their clients to new firms.  He has extensive experience representing financial services professionals in SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), state, and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) disciplinary matters, employment termination cases, non-compete and non-solicitation cases, promissory note collection cases, and SEC compliance matters.  He has won substantial arbitration awards for advisers for compensatory damages resulting from wrongful termination and Form U-5 defamation, including ordering removal of defamatory language as well as declaring an outstanding promissory note balance to be null and void.  In 1991, he obtained the largest jury verdict ever at the time in Cook County, Illinois for a defamation and wrongful termination for a business executive.  

For investors, he has recovered their losses caused by unsuitable investments, churning, portfolio mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence, winning significant (multi-million dollar) arbitration awards and judgments in arbitration forums and courts across the country. 

Jim has held numerous securities licenses, including investment adviser Series 65, securities principal Series 24, and securities representative Series 7 with FINRA.  He is a chairperson-qualified FINRA arbitrator as well as a qualified FINRA mediator.  

Jim's opinions are sought by the media in print and online publications.  He has appeared on First Business Morning News WCIU Chicago, CNN and various radio talk shows.  He writes monthly columns for Chicago Lawyer, The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and The Docket.  For seven years, he was the legal columnist for On Wall Street.  He has written articles for publications such as InvestmentNews, Wealth Manager and Research Magazine, and often is quoted in others such as Registered Representative.  He sponsors FinancialCounsel.com for investors and for financial services professionals, providing information on  arbitration, customer relations, employment and regulation, as well as estate and retirement planning and financial industry and markets intelligence.  He also writes a blog which features podcasts of many of his articles and commentary on current events and investigations.

Jim is the course teacher for Suing Securities Professionals, an online, on-demand video course offering Illinois attorneys one hour of MCLE credit.  It can be previewed for free at MentorCLE.com.