Many businesses, corporations and individuals have investments such as stocks that are defined as securities. The commerce and transaction of these securities can often times result in suspicious and unlawful behavior. Given the specter of litigation, a frequent route to circumvent the usual lawsuit hearings and proceedings is securities arbitration. The expert legal guidance presented by a securities arbitration lawyer, thus, is a critical supplement to any business or group of investors. A skillful securities arbitration lawyer has comprehensive awareness of the procedural details of arbitration cases, and has most likely been present in many such hearings. For an average securities arbitration case, the length of time from filing to judgment is approximately fourteen months. During fiscal year 2009, one of the most frequent claims filed under securities arbitration was the violation of misrepresentation.