FINRA Dispute Resolution announced earlier this week that it is expanding the pilot program it launched in 2008 to provide investors with more choice in selecting arbitrators for customer cases heard by FINRA arbitrators.  Rather than being forced to select at least one industry arbitrator on all three-arbitrator panels, FINRA gave investors the right, in essence, to strike all industry arbitrators from the selection process in cases that were eligible for the pilot program.  FINRA’s announcement this week expands the pool of cases that will be eligible for the pilot program in 2009, preserving choice for investors in even more customer cases.  FINRA has been battling campaigns by investor advocacy groups to eliminate the mandatory industry arbitrator from three-arbitrator panels on the ground that industry arbitrators are inherently biased and investors perceive the arbitration process as unfair in part because of the presence of an industry representative on panels.  Whether the expanded pilot program will silence the critics remains to be seen, but seems unlikely.