42 records in this section.
Donald C. Langevoort is the Thomas Aquinas Reynolds Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He joined the Georgetown faculty in 1999 after eighteen years at Vanderbilt University School of Law. Professor Langevoort graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1976, and went into private practice with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington. In 1978, he joined the staff of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission as Special Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel. Since entering academia in 1981, Professor Langevoort has written a treatise on insider trading, co-authored a casebook on securities regulation, and produced numerous law review articles on topics such as insider trading, the impact of technology on securities regulation, investor behavior and the intersection between cognitive psychology and lawyers’ professional responsibilities.
Colleen Mahoney spent 15 years in increasingly senior positions with the SEC. In 1983, she joined the SEC’s Office of General Counsel. She then moved to the Division of Enforcement in 1990, serving as chief counsel. After a stint as executive assistant/chief of staff for Chairman Arthur Levitt in 1993-94, Ms. Mahoney went back to the division of enforcement as deputy director under Bill McLucas until 1998. During the course of her SEC career, she saw internet technology begin to change internal processes, derivatives begin to proliferate, and the SEC make major structural changes to adapt to a more globalized marketplace. In her last several months before leaving for the private sector, she served as acting general counsel for the agency.
Joan E. McKown spent nearly 25 years at the SEC, 1986 to 2010, the last 17 as chief counsel in the Enforcement Division. During her tenure in the Division, she honed her knowledge of investigatory issues relating to financial fraud, corporate disclosure, corporate governance, accounting, compliance, private equity, FCPA, broker dealer, investment adviser, investment companies, and insider trading. She also played a key role in establishing enforcement policies and oversaw creation of the first version of the SEC Enforcement Manual.
Bill McLucas served at the SEC for 21 years, the last 9 as director of the Division of Enforcement. He started as a staff attorney in 1977 and became branch chief under Stanley Sporkin. He then rose through the ranks in the Enforcement Division as assistant director, associate director, and became director of the Division in 1989. In his oral history interview, he discusses what it was like to serve under directors Sporkin and Fedders, and for five SEC Chairmen as division director, and how the SEC’s enforcement program evolved over his time at the SEC, and since his departure from the agency in 1998. Mr. McLucas was a founding trustee of the SEC Historical Society.
Claudius B. Modesti served for 14 years at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), from 2005 to 2019. He was the PCAOB’s first enforcement director and led the team that built the enforcement group from its inception. He oversaw the development of the PCAOB’s policies and procedures for identifying matters for investigation. His role also included overseeing the Board’s litigation process. In addition, he played a key role in the PCAOB’s collaboration with its foreign regulator counterparts, particularly as it related to international enforcement cooperation.
Thomas Newkirk spent 19 years -- from 1986 – 2004 -- in the SEC’s Enforcement Division. As Chief Litigation Counsel, he directed the Commission’s litigation against Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken, First Jersey and Eddie Antar (“Crazy Eddie”), and many emergency relief cases to freeze the proceeds of insider trading and halt on-going frauds. Then as an Associate Director, he led the investigations of significant financial fraud cases (Royal Ahold, PNC Financial Services Group, Tyco, Arthur Anderson, Waste Management), mutual fund cases (The Dreyfus Corporation, Kemper Financial Services), and broker-dealer cases (Prudential Securities, Gruntal & Company).
Thomas Newkirk spent 19 years -- from 1986 – 2004 -- in the SEC’s Enforcement Division. As Chief Litigation Counsel, he directed the Commission’s litigation against Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken, First Jersey and Eddie Antar (“Crazy Eddie”), and many emergency relief cases to freeze the proceeds of insider trading and halt on-going frauds. Then as an Associate Director, he led the investigations of significant financial fraud cases (Royal Ahold, PNC Financial Services Group, Tyco, Arthur Anderson, Waste Management), mutual fund cases (The Dreyfus Corporation, Kemper Financial Services), and broker-dealer cases (Prudential Securities, Gruntal & Company).
Charles Niemeier, a partner at Williams and Connolly LLP, previously served with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement as the co-head of the Financial Fraud Task Force and as Chief Accountant for the Division. Upon adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, he was appointed a founding board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, serving as the Board’s first Acting Chair. Mr. Niemeier received his B.B.A. at Baylor University and his JD at Georgetown University Law Center.
