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A. Valerie Mirko

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A. Valerie Mirko is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Financial Regulation and Enforcement Practice Group in North America. Valerie has substantial experience in federal and state securities laws and regulations affecting the financial services industry, with a focus on the investment adviser and brokerage industries. Valerie has a background in both regulatory advice and enforcement counseling. Immediately prior to joining the Firm, Valerie was General Counsel of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). As General Counsel, Valerie advised NASAA’s Board of Directors on developments in the federal securities laws and their impact on state securities regulations. Valerie provided advice on, among other areas, the SEC Regulation Best Interest rule set, fiduciary duty/standards of care, preemption, retail enforcement issues, investment adviser oversight, and data privacy. She also supervised all of NASAA's securities-related legal work and was a resource on multistate enforcement investigations and settlements. Valerie also provided governance support on key NASAA Regtech projects and regulatory coordination initiatives between state and federal regulators. Valerie was a frequent speaker at regulator-only roundtables and training events. Earlier in her career, Valerie advised broker-dealers and investment advisers on regulatory matters and enforcement investigations as an associate at a Washington law firm and held legal and compliance roles at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., and Merrill Lynch (now BofA Securities). Valerie is currently a member of the adjunct faculty at the George Washington University Law School and a subcommittee chair within the DC Bar Corporation, Finance, and Securities Law Community.

Special Edition: Finding Balance – Financial Sponsors In this special edition, Michael Fieweger, a partner at our Chicago office, talks with Ying Yi Liew about the future of financial sponsors — private equity/credit funds, asset management and sovereign wealth funds —  as the industry transitions into the business renewal phase. Basing on client, industry and legal…

Episode 3: Data Journey Map for Virtual Communications (Singapore) This episode outlines different steps that financial institutions must consider or take when using virtual communication platforms. Our experts from Singapore — Stephanie Magnus and Ken Chia — examine these steps, which should form part and parcel of financial institutions’ risk…

COVID-19 is making physical meetings more difficult or undesirable, and all of us are regularly using virtual communications. However, in adopting virtual channels to deliver products and services, financial institutions need to work through issues touching on financial regulation, data privacy and technology.

Based on public statements, including a recent speech discussing the operation of the Division of Enforcement’s COVID-19 Steering Committee (Enforcement speech), it is clear that the SEC Enforcement Staff (the Staff) is already thinking ahead to the types of enforcement investigations and actions that may follow the COVID-19 Crisis. In doing so, the Staff likely will draw on its experience following the 2008 global financial crisis (2008 Crisis) to identify potential patterns of misconduct that occur during periods of extraordinary market volatility and financial stress. Below we discuss the various areas that the SEC Enforcement Division is currently focused on, as well as our analysis of the enforcement actions arising out of the 2008 Crisis, with a particular focus on the asset management industry.

SEC 2020: Expect SEC Enforcement to Cast Wide Net on Corporate Disclosure This is the second installment in our series of year-end analyses of the year in securities regulation and enforcement. Based on our ongoing analysis of SEC enforcement actions in 2019, we expect the SEC’s Division of Enforcement to…

On March 3, 2020, the US Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether the SEC has the authority to obtain disgorgement of “ill-gotten gains” in federal court for securities law violations. During the oral argument, in their questioning, the Justices frequently referred back to district courts’ inherent authority to enter…

Welcome to the first of our series of year-end analyses of the year in securities regulation and enforcement. First, we will consider the past year “by the numbers,” the statistics that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or more specifically, its component Divisions and Offices, release annually. Later parts of…

View presentation At the recent roundtable discussion, “SEC Regulatory and Enforcement Trends: How to Prepare for the SEC in 2020,” held at the Baker McKenzie Chicago office, our North America Financial Regulation & Enforcement team talked about what to expect from the Staff in 2020. Drawing from their collective SEC regulatory…

On November 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether the SEC has the authority to obtain disgorgement of “ill-gotten gains” in federal court for securities law violations.  The SEC historically has been successful in obtaining monetary relief from defendants through disgorgement, which the SEC has asserted…