EXCLUSIVE-US SEC taps Gibson Dunn attorney to be new enforcement director, sources say

By Chris Prentice

NEW YORK, April 8 - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped David Woodcock, a Gibson Dunn lawyer and former agency official, to be its next enforcement director after the regulator's top cop abruptly quit last month, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Woodcock, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas, Texas, will replace Margaret Ryan, the people said. Ryan resigned just six months into the job after clashing with the agency's leaders over the direction of the enforcement program, Reuters previously reported.

Woodcock is a longtime securities lawyer who led the SEC’s Fort Worth, Texas, regional office from 2011-2015, where he helped create a task force aimed at rooting out accounting and financial reporting misconduct, according to his LinkedIn and law firm profiles.

Neither Woodcock nor the SEC responded immediately to requests for comment.

After leaving the SEC, Woodcock worked at Jones Day and ExxonMobil before joining Gibson Dunn, where he is co-chair of the firm's securities enforcement practice group, the online profiles show.

Woodcock was considered for the role last year, two of the people said. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins ultimately tapped Ryan, a conservative military judge with little securities law experience. Ryan wanted to be more aggressive in pursuing charges for fraud and other misconduct including in cases that touched the president's circle, but faced resistance from Atkins and other top Republican political appointees, Reuters reported.

The enforcement division at the SEC, the top U.S. markets regulator, has been hit by staff reductions and a reorganization under President Donald Trump's second administration. Some 18% of the SEC's enforcement staff left in the fiscal year that ran through September, according to a recent government report.

Under Trump, the SEC has overhauled its enforcement program, dismissing numerous high-profile cases against crypto firms including Coinbase and Binance and moving away from large corporate cases with steep penalties.

That has contributed to a dropoff in enforcement activity, with the SEC bringing more than 20% fewer actions in fiscal 2025 than in the prior year, the agency said on Tuesday.