Gary Goldsholle, a Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner/courtesy photo

Gary Goldsholle returned to Steptoe & Johnson LLP as a partner in Washington, D.C., on Monday after more than two decades away from the firm.

Goldsholle was most recently at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he spent nearly four years as a deputy director in the agency's division of trading and markets.

Since leaving Steptoe as an associate in 1995, Goldshoe also put in time at several other financial regulatory agencies: two years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, more than 15 years at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and more than two years at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Goldsholle said he was ready to shift back to law firm life.

“I'd been working on a whole range of cutting-edge legal issues and wanted to take that experience I acquired and work with intelligent colleagues solving problems,” Goldsholle said, explaining his move. “In the end, what I was most excited about was rejoining Steptoe.”

At the firm, Goldsholle will help clients navigate regulatory framework governing the financial market. Goldsholle said the matters he was most proud of working on at the SEC involved approval of the Investors' Exchange (IEX) application to register as a national securities exchange, as well as various matters in the clearance and settlements arena.

Without naming names, Goldsholle said he weighed other options before committing to Steptoe, including outside Washington. After talking with his wife, he said he decided Steptoe in D.C. was the best place for him.

He will work in the firm's financial services, public policy, and blockchain and cryptocurrency practices and indicated he was excited about the firm's growing prominence in the financial services sector in recent years. Steptoe's financial services work has grown considerably starting in 2015, when Micah Green and a six-lawyer crew joined from Squire Patton Boggs.

Goldsholle said it was “hard to say” whether others from the SEC would also find a home at Steptoe, but he noted he has a history of folks moving with him from one job to the next. Most recently his colleagues at the MSRB moved with him to the SEC. Steptoe will likely have competition for his former colleagues' talent. Others making moves to big firms from the financial regulatory agencies in Washington include former FINRA executive Russ Ryan to King & Spalding, longtime SEC veteran Karen Garnett to Proskauer Rose, and SEC enforcer Gerald Hodgkins to Covington & Burling.