By David Cinotti ( September 25, 2018, 2:01 PM EDT) -- Customers who hire broker-dealers have a right to arbitrate disputes with them under the rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a nonprofit authorized by federal law to oversee the broker-dealer industry. It is a trend, however, for brokerage firms to insert forum-selection clauses in customer agreements that require all disputes arising out of the brokerage relationship to be litigated in court. When the customers demand arbitration, the question arises — what controls, the FINRA rules or the customer agreements? Answering this question requires courts to consider the interplay of federal arbitration law, federal securities law and state contract law....