American lawyers are advising research analysts to stop doing roadshows, explicitly list the risks faced by the companies they follow, and fully disclose their own holdings, if they want to avoid lawsuits.

“If an analyst is making presentations at roadshows, you’re going to have an elevated liability,” says John Coffee, a professor of securities law at Columbia University “If we want the analyst’s status to be respected as that of a neutral umpire, we’ve got to get them out of the marketing process. It suggests he’s a cheerleader, not an umpire.”

Another securities lawyer, Roger Crane, says that firms should replace their vague disclaimers about future stock performance with exhaustive expositions of potential risks to their outlooks. “At length, the recommendation has to discuss the list of issues, and there is usually a long list, that could result in this company’s not succeeding,” says Crane. “You darn well better point out the types of problems that not only a sophisticated investor may be aware of, but also that an unsophisticated investor could understand. You can’t expect a broker to go through that with the client,” he said.

Coffee also suggested that firms would be wise to make more specific disclosures about analysts’ ownership of stocks and that analysts should not report to investment banking divisions moves that firms have begun adopting.