Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announced today that Kristin Snyder will join the firm’s San Francisco office as a partner in the White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group on March 14. Ms. Snyder, who most recently served as Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), will focus on securities-related regulatory and enforcement matters, particularly for private investment firms and other asset managers.
The addition of Ms. Snyder will further bolster the Group’s ability to advise clients in navigating a more aggressive regulatory stance from the SEC, especially toward large financial institutions and asset managers. Ms. Snyder will join the Group’s distinguished roster of former senior federal prosecutors, SEC lawyers, and regulators, which in San Francisco already includes David Sarratt, a former federal prosecutor and co-managing partner of the office, and Julie Riewe, former Co-Chief of the Asset Management Unit of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, who spends time in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices.
“Kristin’s specialized experience and keen understanding of securities regulation and enforcement will expand our ability to meet the needs of our clients in the region, the asset managers and investors who make the Bay Area such a dynamic market,” said Presiding Partner Michael Blair. “We look forward to Kristin’s contributions as we continue to grow our San Francisco office.”
Andrew Ceresney, Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department and past Director of Enforcement at the SEC, stated: “Given the more aggressive regulatory and enforcement efforts our private investment firm clients are facing, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to invite a lawyer of Kristin’s caliber to join our formidable bench of SEC practitioners. Her arrival will complement our capabilities across the full range of securities examination and enforcement matters.”
San Francisco co-managing partner Mr. Sarratt said: “Bringing on board a renowned senior lawyer like Kristin affirms our commitment to building out our world class San Francisco team, while expanding the firm’s capabilities in an area critical to our clients. We welcome Kristin to our growing office.”
Ms. Snyder added: “As I considered the next step in my career, I knew that I wanted to practice law at the very highest level in a collaborative and supportive environment with strong values. Given Debevoise’s excellent reputation in the market and the caliber of their lawyers, it was the clear choice, and I look forward to being part of the San Francisco office and global White Collar Group.”
With a distinguished 18-year career at the SEC, Ms. Snyder brings to the firm extensive experience and insights into all aspects of financial regulation. Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. Snyder also served as the SEC’s Co-National Associate Director of its Investment Adviser/Investment Company (IAIC) Examination Program, and as Associate Regional Director for Examinations in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. In these roles and her Deputy Director role, she oversaw more than 1,000 employees in the Division of Examinations, directed the SEC’s Private Funds Unit, a specialized group within the exam program that has conducted hundreds of examinations of many of the largest and most complex private funds managers in the world, and managed referrals of examination findings from the Division of Examinations to the Division of Enforcement. She also led the SEC’s National Examination Program Office for the IAIC Examination Program, which develops priorities and initiatives covering investment advisers, including private fund managers, and investment companies.
Prior to joining the Division of Examinations in 2011, Ms. Snyder served for eight years in the Division of Enforcement as a branch chief and a senior counsel in the SEC’s San Francisco office, and was a litigation associate at two major law firms before that. Ms. Snyder received her J.D. with honors from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1996 and her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Davis in 1992.
Debevoise’s award-winning White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group is ranked as one of the world’s top practices by Global Investigations Review and as Band 1 by Chambers on both sides of the Atlantic for its complex representations of clients facing litigation and public policy crises, as well as Band 1 in the U.S. for securities enforcement. Selected by Law360 as a 2021 White Collar Practice Group of the Year, the group has been involved in some of the most significant investigations, litigations, and resolutions over the past few years, and offers international and domestic clients a depth of experience and global reach that allows for effective and strategic counsel.
The group includes a number of former SEC lawyers including partners Mary Jo White, past Chair of the SEC, Mr. Ceresney and Ms. Riewe, as well as Kara Brockmeyer, the former head of the FCPA Unit of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, Robert Kaplan, who served as Co-Chief of the Asset Management Unit of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, and Jonathan Tuttle and Arian June who have extensive experience in SEC matters.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. We deliver effective solutions to our clients’ most important legal challenges, applying clear commercial judgment and a distinctively collaborative approach.