Securities Docket - Ask a Recruiter: What Government Experience Outside of the SEC Is Currently in Demand?
Weekly Career and Market Insight for Securities Docket Readers from Macrae recruiter Rachel Nonaka, Managing Director in Washington, D.C. and a Former Attorney for the SEC.
Good news! A wide variety of government experience is in demand right now as top law firms seek expertise related to the regulation and enforcement of public issuers, financial institutions and fintech firms, and SEC registrants, who all tend to pay premium rates for outside counsel. We can thank the SEC and other regulators for a slew of new rules, regs, and enforcement sweeps to keep the defense bar busy!
In the securities enforcement space, firms tend to value experience from the SEC’s criminal counterpart – the Department of Justice. Main Justice, SDNY, EDNY, EDVA, and NDCA are key DOJ offices targeted.
Why? In short, not all USAOs are the same. Districts tend to differ in the kind of cases they specialize in, resulting in different post-government job opportunities. Also, these offices most frequently work the criminal component of securities enforcement cases in parallel with the SEC. Examples of attorneys who recently left DOJ to become law firm partners include David Last (Chief of the FCPA Unit at the DOJ ) going to Cleary, joining Freshfields, Stephen Cha-Kim (Assistant U.S. Attorney for the SDNY) going to Arnold & Porter, and Jeff Shank (former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the San Jose Branch for the NDCA).
Also in demand right now are senior enforcement and litigation attorneys from other financial regulators, such as FINRA, the CFTC, the PBAOB, and the Federal Reserve. Examples of these moves include Jim Bergin (acting Co-General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel and Chief of Staff of the New York Fed) going to Arnold & Porter, Todd Beaton (chief counsel in FINRA’s Enforcement Department joining McGuireWoods and Patrick Bryan (Director of the Division of Enforcement and Investigations at the PCAOB) moving to DLA Piper.
The same rules apply as to SEC enforcement folks – namely, titles and substantive expertise do matter. Firms will pay more to hire senior government officials who are immediately able to pitch and win new work for the firm.
If you have a question you’d like me to address, send it my way at Rachel.Nonaka@macrae.com. (No names or other information will be attached to the questions I answer here.) If you’re interested in having a confidential discussion regarding partnership opportunities, please submit this brief form.