Mission
The Compliance and Legal Society's members are primarily compliance and legal professionals associated with SIFMA - Compliance & Legal Society Member Firms. The Society's purpose - to foster an effective self-regulatory system through the efforts of Compliance and Legal personnel - is promoted by its members' activities, the focus of which is education, communication and advocacy. The Society seeks to preserve and enhance the reputation of the securities industry and the self-regulatory system. The Society also works to facilitate communication between the industry and the regulatory community on key issues.
History
The Society traces its roots to more than 40 years ago when a group of 12 representatives of New York brokerage firms organized a monthly luncheon meeting for the express purpose of discussing, on an in-depth basis, the various compliance issues arising within their respective firms. Ideas were exchanged. These frank, informal discussions were enormously helpful to the participants, as well as to the firms with whom they were associated. All present learned a great deal from each other and about what was going on in the industry.
Interest in the compliance functions was recognized as vitally important for a firm's long range planning. As a result, the 12 representatives voted to organize, elect officers and adopt a set of by-laws. Thus, the Compliance and Legal Society began.
In 1964, an application was filed with SIFMA to admit the Compliance and Legal group as a Society of SIFMA. Approval was received in due course. Today, the Society has grown to over 2,000 members and continues to expand both in its commitment to conduct educational programs and its active participation in addressing issues that specifically impact the compliance and legal community and the securities industry in general.
