In March of 2020, FINRA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had administratively postponed all in-person arbitration and mediation proceedings.  Subsequent announcements extended those adjournments through July 3, 2021.  In mid-May, 2021, FINRA announced that 62 hearing locations would be open for in-person hearings starting July 5, 2021, and recently, FINRA stated that starting August 2, 2021, all FINRA dispute resolution hearing locations will be open for in-person hearings.  In-person proceedings at the following hearing locations were further postponed through July 30, 2021: Augusta, Maine; Boca Raton, Florida; Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; and Wilmington, Delaware.  

When FINRA announced the initial reopening of in-person proceedings, FINRA stated arbitration parties can continue to request a remote hearing.  As of April 30, 2021, 296 arbitration cases had conducted one or more hearings via Zoom, 113 of which were customer cases, and 183 of which were industry cases.  There are also 277 total joint motions for virtual hearings, 98 in customer cases and 179 in industry cases.