General Counsel Anne K. Small to Leave SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that General Counsel Anne K. Small will leave the agency later this month. 

Ms. Small has served as the SEC’s General Counsel since April 2013.  As the agency’s chief legal officer, Ms. Small has provided counsel on virtually all of the legal and policy issues before the Commission. This has included providing advice on a record number of enforcement actions, representing and counseling the Commission on high-profile appeals throughout the country on issues ranging from the scope of the anti-fraud provisions to insider trading, advising the Commission on more than 50 significant rulemaking initiatives including those implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Acts, and defending against legal challenges to Commission regulations. Ms. Small also led the Commission’s efforts in revising the rules of practice that govern administrative enforcement proceedings.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White said, “Annie is brilliant and has an extraordinary legal mind and tremendous judgment.   She has always provided thoughtful and wise counsel on countless important and complex issues before the Commission.  She is a true champion of the Commission who uses her keen intellect and judgment to guide the Commission to the right result.  She has served me and the Commission superbly well, and I am very grateful that I have always been able to count on her, day or night, for her strategic thinking and knowledgeable advice and counsel.” 

Ms. Small added, “It has been an incredible honor to serve alongside the talented and dedicated SEC staff.  I owe Chair White my profound gratitude for giving me this opportunity and for all of her support. I particularly want to express my appreciation to my phenomenal colleagues in the Office of the General Counsel, whose expertise and professionalism have benefitted me and the Commission in all areas of our work.”

Prior to joining the SEC in April 2013, Ms. Small served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President.  Prior to that, Ms. Small served as the SEC’s Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Adjudication.  Ms. Small was previously a litigation partner in the law firm of WilmerHale LLP.  Ms. Small served as a law clerk for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.  She is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, where she served as President of the Harvard Law Review.‎

Upon Ms. Small’s departure, Sanket Bulsara, Deputy General Counsel for Appellate Litigation, Adjudication, and Enforcement, will become the Acting General Counsel.