Susan Light/courtesy photo

Susan Light, who was senior vice president and chief counsel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. in its enforcement division until July, joined Katten Muchin Rosenman as a partner in its New York offices on Monday.

Light, whose career at FINRA spanned 30 years and several economic cycles, will advise broker-dealers, hedge funds, investment banks and other financial service companies on matters concerning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal and state regulators, as well as financial self-regulatory organizations, including FINRA.

Light said she loved her job at FINRA, but “after 30 years, I really wanted to do something different.” She added: “I thought long and hard about it and decided I wanted another career, one that brings my experience and knowledge to help clients navigate regulatory issues.”

Light will be a partner in Katten's financial services group.

At FINRA, she supervised all aspects of regulatory investigations, negotiations, settlements and disciplinary hearings involving a wide variety of FINRA rules and federal securities laws. She served in a similar capacity at a predecessor to the agency in the late 1980s, and was a trial attorney in the Bronx County District Attorney's Office earlier in her career.

“I'm excited to work with Katten lawyers because of all their knowledge and experience,” Light said in an interview. “A brokerage firm can come to me at Katten and say, there's a whistleblower, what do we do? Or we want to do an internal investigation, how do we set that up? Or I have a suspicion a violation may have occurred, how do I deal with that?”

Lance Zinman, global co-chairman of Katten's financial services practice, said in a statement: “We are thrilled to welcome her to our team. Sue's institutional knowledge of SEC and FINRA rules and regulations will be an invaluable resource for our clients seeking to address complex legal and regulatory issues and avoid problems before they occur.”

While at FINRA, Light partnered with SEC enforcement on global settlements related to subprime mortgage assets, mutual fund revenue-sharing, microcap fraud and fee-based compensation, among other matters.

She also partnered with U.S. attorneys' offices on probes and prosecutions involving securities fraud and Ponzi schemes; and worked with state financial regulators in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and elsewhere on investigations into sales practice abuses, after-hours trading and mutual fund market timing. She has also partnered with the Internal Revenue Service on investigations.

Light is a frequent public speaker and panelist and a contributor to publications on regulatory matters, including cybersecurity risks in the broker-dealer industry and distributed ledger technology in the securities industry.

She is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

“I chose Katten because it is known for quality work in complex areas,” she said.

Correction: This copy has been updated to correct the name of FINRA, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.