SEC Exit Options for Corporate? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Title says it all: Anyone know what sorts of SEC exit options there might be for someone doing corporate work at a top NYC firm (e.g., CSM)? I imagine the SEC tends to take litigators more often, but do they take corporate people as well? If so, how does one position oneself for such a transition?

[Anonymous User]

bump, also interested

[Mola Ram]

bump, also interested

Depends on what you want to do within the SEC. They definitely hire corporate people, though those jobs tend to be more in DC, as a rule.

If you are interested in securities compliance matters related to reviews of issuers' filings (Corp Fin) and rulemakings, then working in either your firm's cap markets group or public company group (if one exists) is a good start.

Alternatively, if your firm regularly advises broker-dealers (or other securities market participants who organize the trading of securities or swaps, high frequency trading, etc.), getting experience in those areas would lend itself to the division of trading and markets.

One thing to do would be to find someone at your firm who worked at the SEC and find a good time in casual conversation to bring it up. Make sure you have done your homework, though, first by understanding the breakdown between the divisions and what they do.

http://www.sec.gov/divisions.shtml

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the info, Mola. I was most curious about Corp Fin. So assuming one is doing capital markets work at a top NYC firm, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem to move to Corp Fin in DC? –OP.

[Anonymous User]

Current SEC attorney here. The divisions that I've seen hire people with a corporate background are CF, IM, TM, and also the General Counsel's office in DC. Regional offices are pretty much out, since enforcement requires litigation experience and OCIE has very few attorney openings and tends to require industry experience. I think you would have a great shot at CF coming from cap markets at a top NYC firm. I know several people in CF with that exact background. That's not to say it will be easy to get, but you will be a strong candidate for openings when they appear so be on the lookout. You should also have a good shot at TM.

CF is actually a very diverse division so you should narrow down what part of CF you are interested in. Some parts like Chief Counsel and the legal policy offices are great places to work where you will get very valuable experience. On the other hand, disclosure operations has a pretty bad reputation within the SEC as being excruciatingly boring and where you get less marketable experience, but that may just be what I have heard.

[Anonymous User]

On a related note - how do you get an attorney job at the SEC in general? I check the job opportunities listing daily and I haven't seen a single attorney opening (for people who are not currently SEC employees). Is it appropriate to just submit a resume/cover letter to someone at the office of interest?

[Anonymous User]

I got mine through a USAJobs posting, but a lot of attorney openings aren't posted there. They're generally posted to legal job sites and are almost always on LinkedIn. Many are also filled through referrals from current SEC employees and might not be widely advertised. I generally don't think you'll have much luck simply sending your resume to the contacts on SEC.gov but I think CF might have better odds that way than other divisions.

Should also note that we're on a continuing resolution right now so I wouldn't expect too much hiring until a budget is in place.

[Mola Ram]

Thanks for the info, Mola. I was most curious about Corp Fin. So assuming one is doing capital markets work at a top NYC firm, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem to move to Corp Fin in DC? –OP.

I'll echo what the anon SEC atty mentioned above, which is TCR. The attys I knew who went into the SEC after 2+ years either interned there previously or moved into the position based on knowing people directly or people knowing people when spots opened up. That's not to say that lobbing your resume in after a period of time wouldn't work, but the SEC doesn't hire like law firms do. For the people who did get hired, the process was a long one (4-6+ months) because, as the SEC atty notes, there's often funding hold-ups. Given that the SEC is taking lumps from the right and left now, there could be fallow periods where they can't really hire.

If you are at a top NYC firm, there will be former SEC alums. Contact those people once you have got your feet wet and you can talk substantively about some of the stuff that you have done and your interest.

[Anonymous User]

I always thought that the SEC was predominantly if not completely self funded, which should insulate them from such issues. Are they not in fact self funded?

[Anonymous User]

No. Unlike some other agencies like the FDIC, the SEC budget is almost entirely congressional appropriations. The SEC actually generates more money for the government than it receives, but it gives that money up to the US Treasury. There's always been talk about making it a truly self funded agency, but that hasn't happened yet and probably won't have a chance of happening for a long time. One quirk with its appropriations though is that it gets to keep its appropriated money until it spends all of it, and the agency has been able to use this quirk (by delaying large IT projects and such) to not shutdown in the last shutdown and likely not shut down if there is a federal government shutdown this year.