SEC Practice 360 Degrees - Managing Each Stage of an SEC Administrative Proceeding or Litigation

Andrew Michaelson is an accomplished SEC and white-collar defense practitioner who has advised global financial institutions, Fortune 100 companies, hedge funds, and senior executives in high-stakes investigations. He has deep experience in matters involving securities laws, complex financial instruments, and bribery or corruption. Andrew has represented clients under investigation by the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, CFPB and State Attorneys General, and he regularly represents his clients in civil litigation that relates to government investigations.

Chambers USA has noted that Andrew is “increasingly recognized” for his work defending “companies and individuals alike” in white collar and government investigations in New York. According to Chambers, clients described Andrew as “incredibly smart and understated,” and “very, very knowledgeable on regulatory matters.” He has appeared on 60 Minutes to discuss insider trading, and his prior work as a federal prosecutor was profiled in the Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker.

Andrew previously served in government with the SEC, Division of Enforcement, and with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he led the Galleon insider trading investigation and prosecuted numerous securities and wire fraud cases. He served as trial counsel in U.S. v. Rajaratnam, the high-profile criminal trial resulting in the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam. Andrew has spoken about the Galleon case and federal securities law enforcement at Harvard Law School and the NYU School of Law.

Sarah Mallett is a partner in the Government, Regulatory & Internal Investigations Practice Group in the Dallas office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Sarah is a former Assistant Director in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement and an experienced litigator who focuses on advising and representing public companies, private equity firms, asset managers, financial institutions, and other entities and individuals facing government, regulatory, or internal investigations, examinations and enforcement proceedings. Sarah brings clients a current and insider’s view on how to best navigate SEC investigations, examinations and rulemaking.

During her more than seven years at the SEC, Sarah supervised or served as the primary attorney on countless investigations, including multiple complex and high-profile enforcement actions, national priority investigations, sweep investigations and parallel investigations with the Department of Justice, FINRA, and other federal or state regulatory and law enforcement authorities. She also served on multiple of the Division’s national working groups and contributed to the drafting of the SEC’s SPAC rulemaking. The SEC has recognized Sarah with numerous awards for her work. In 2022, Sarah was an individual recipient of the Division’s Ellen B. Ross Award for “exemplary commitment, enthusiasm and performance” and a team recipient of the Chair’s Award for Investor Protection. In 2021, Sarah received an inaugural Performance Incentive Bonus Award for an “extraordinary and rare level of performance,” and she received a Director’s Award in 2017. Sarah’s understanding of the SEC’s processes and priorities and her broad experience with the federal securities laws make her uniquely positioned to offer key insights to prevent or minimize clients’ regulatory exposure and to work productively with SEC staff to protect her clients’ interests.

An experienced litigator with over 20 years of experience in both government and the private sector, Mr. Berry focuses his practice on white collar defense and investigations, internal investigations and securities-related and other high stakes commercial litigation. He most recently served in senior-level positions in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, personally handling significant SEC enforcement matters, including first-chairing a large insider trading jury trial to verdict.

Mr. Berry joined the firm in 2019 from the SEC, where he was Associate Regional Director for the SEC’s Los Angeles office, appointed by SEC Chair Mary Jo White to co-lead that office’s Enforcement staff. In that role, he oversaw the office’s enforcement investigations and litigation, supervising over 100 investigations that led to more than 40 litigated or settled cases. Before taking on that position, Mr. Berry served as the Regional Trial Counsel for the SEC’s Los Angeles office, where he managed the office’s senior trial counsel and oversaw all of the office’s litigated cases. He personally litigated or supervised almost 100 contested SEC enforcement actions in federal district court or in administrative proceedings.

Mr. Berry worked on a wide variety of cases at the SEC, including matters involving insider trading, financial and accounting fraud, public company disclosure fraud, cyber-related fraud, investment adviser and broker fraud, offering fraud, and registration and other non-fraud violations.

Before working at the SEC, Mr. Berry was a litigation partner in the New York office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where his practice focused on commercial, real estate and bankruptcy litigation. He also served as a member of the firm’s hiring and pro bono committees.

During his career at the SEC and in private practice, Mr. Berry has litigated 26 cases to summary judgment and argued more than 40 dispositive motions and appeals in federal and state trial and appellate courts. Given his experience and background, he is a frequent speaker on securities enforcement and litigation topics.

Mr. Berry earned joint J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Virginia. He earned his B.S., cum laude, in mechanical engineering and economics from Duke University.

Jason H. Lee is the Associate Regional Director for enforcement in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. He joined the SEC in 2013 as a staff attorney and served as an Assistant Regional Director from 2019 to 2022. He was also a member of the Division of Enforcement’s Public Finance Abuse Unit from 2015 until 2022. In his role as Associate Regional Director, Mr. Lee oversees the San Francisco office’s enforcement efforts for northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Lee worked in private practice at Latham & Watkins LLP. He earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he served as an Articles Editor for the California Law Review, and obtained his bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Clients rely on Susan Resley’s guidance to counsel and defend them in regulatory matters concerning accounting and disclosure issues, insider trading, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (including due diligence and compliance), internal controls, cybersecurity concerns, whistleblower-related issues, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules related to broker-dealers and investment advisors. She has represented clients in international regulatory and internal investigations, including in the United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, Korea, and India.
Susan has been recognized as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California in 2019 by the Daily Journal and recommended by Chambers for Securities Litigation and by The Legal 500 US in White Collar Criminal Defense, Corporate Investigations, and Securities Litigation.
Susan has obtained favorable results for her clients, including dismissals in litigation involving regulators and private plaintiffs. On numerous occasions, the SEC, US Department of Justice (DOJ), and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) have declined to pursue actions against her clients, including after informing Susan of their intent to do so. Her clients include private and public companies, boards and their committees, accounting firms, brokerage and investment advisory firms, and other financial institutions. Individual directors, senior company officers, and employees also look to Susan to represent them in regulatory and private litigation where their reputations are at stake.
Before joining Morgan Lewis, Susan was a securities litigation partner with an international law firm. Prior to that, she held a partnership role at the global firm. She brings government experience to her clients, as she worked for the SEC before starting in private practice. At that agency’s Division of Enforcement in its Los Angeles Regional office, Susan oversaw and took part in investigations into insider trading, broker-dealer practices, municipal bond offerings, accounting practices, and market manipulation. She lectures frequently on such legal topics as conducting internal investigations, SEC enforcement trends, accounting and controls matters, and the FCPA. She also comments on media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR) and Fox News, and several news and legal publications often quote her.
Susan holds multiple leadership positions at Morgan Lewis. She is the leader of Morgan Lewis’s San Francisco litigation practice and is the firm’s securities trade clearance partner. She also serves on the firm’s Audit, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Investment Committees.