On Tuesday, April 21, 2009, Michael MacPhail of Holland & Hart and Patrick Hunnius of White & Case discussed key issues emerging from the SEC’s Enforcement Division, and the impact of these issues on regulated entities and the lawyers who represent them. MacPhail and Hunnius are both former senior attorneys with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Their comments came in a Securities Docket webcast entitled, “SEC Enforcement Update: A Wounded Animal is a Dangerous Animal.” (An archived version of the webcast as well as the presentation materials are available here).
MacPhail led off by stating that the financial crisis and the Madoff case led to the SEC’s reputation being “shattered” and its very existence being called into question. Although new leadership has helped reinvigorate the agency, MacPhail stated, the SEC was “wounded but now more dangerous than ever” because its new aggressiveness has led to questions of fairness and due process for defendants.
