FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 99-50 PAUL LEDER, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE CHAIRMAN FOR INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, TO LEAVE SEC Washington, D.C., May 12, 1999 -- Paul A. Leder, Deputy Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of International Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Chairman for International Issues, announced today that he will leave the Commission in June to join the law firm of Richards Spears Kibbe & Orbe in its Washington, D.C. Office. Mr. Leder has been a primary architect of the Commission's international enforcement and regulatory programs. He has represented the SEC in a wide range of U.S. Government initiatives, including projects with the G-7 (regulatory and enforcement cooperation), the OECD (corporate governance, foreign illicit payments), and the World Trade Organization (professional services negotiations). Mr. Leder also is the Chair of IOSCO's Working Party on Multinational Accounting and Disclosure, which deals with cross-border accounting and disclosure requirements for companies. Prior to joining the Office of International Affairs in 1990, Mr. Leder was an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Commission's Division of Enforcement. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said, "Domestically, Paul has been a key player in designing and implementing the Commission's regulatory and enforcement responses to the globalization of the markets. Internationally, I have relied on him to represent the Commission on an extraordinarily wide range of issues. He is both a forceful advocate and a fair broker. He has earned my respect and that of my foreign colleagues." Mr. Leder, 42, began his legal career with the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, where he practiced criminal law for six years. Mr. Leder received his J.D. in 1981 from the University of Michigan Law School, and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1978. * * *