For years a battle has been waged between investors (and their advocates - ie, attorneys) and the broker-dealer industry over whether brokers have a fiduciary duty to their clients. A fiduciary duty is a legal obligation to act solely and faithfully in another’s best interest, typically a client’s best interest. Brokerage firms however will often insist, during a dispute over misconduct or malfeasance, that they do not have such a duty; that they are rather simply order-takers executing the wishes of their clients.