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David Woodcock, pictured in October 2011 after his appointment to Regional Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Photographed in Fort Worth, Texas. (David Woo\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n
David Woo – Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has named Dallas lawyer David Woodcock as its new director of enforcement, overseeing the agency\u2019s federal civil corporate securities and fraud investigations and prosecutions.<\/p>\n
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Woodcock is taking a multimillion-dollar pay cut by leaving the corporate law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he has been a partner in Dallas since 2023, to return to public service. He will officially join the SEC on May 4.<\/p>\n
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Woodcock, who served as director of the SEC\u2019s Fort Worth Regional Office during the Obama administration from 2011 to 2015, is joining the SEC at a time when the Trump administration is pushing the federal regulatory and enforcement agency to re-evaluate the kinds of cases it pursues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Division of Enforcement has undergone a significant course correction, restoring Congressional intent by prioritizing cases that provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity,\u201d SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement issued by the SEC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am incredibly pleased to have David rejoin the SEC at this critical time, as we continue to focus on the types of misconduct that inflict the greatest harm to investors.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The SEC\u2019s appointment of Woodcock to this high-ranking post received immediate praise from the Texas legal community.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cDavid is an exceptional lawyer and leader with experience in so many areas that the SEC touches,\u201d Charles Schwab Chief Counsel Shamoil Shipchandler, who previously served as the SEC\u2019s regional director in Texas, told The Texas Lawbook Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDavid\u2019s leadership will be essential as the enforcement division recalibrates its priorities, institutes reforms and handles the significant attrition of staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Woodcock, who is also an adjunct professor teaching securities, ethics and compliance at Texas A&M University School of Law, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Toby Galloway, a former SEC enforcement lawyer, said Woodcock is a \u201cwell-respected leader and attorney who will bring a steady hand to the Enforcement Division.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cDavid has demonstrated a particular affinity for financial reporting cases involving public companies, not surprisingly given his background as a CPA,\u201d said Galloway, who is now a partner at Vartabedian Katz Hester & Haynes in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be interesting to see if he will be able to press these types of cases\u00a0given the commission\u2019s current priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n A 2000 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Woodcock was the associate general counsel at Exxon Mobil for three years before joining Gibson Dunn, where profits per partner in 2025 exceeded $8 million a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n His salary at the SEC, where he will lead a team of more than 1,000 lawyers, investigators and\u00a0accountants will be about $320,000.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Holland & Knight Dallas partner Jessica Magee, a former head of SEC enforcement, agreed that Woodcock is \u201ca great choice\u201d for the position.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid will need to navigate challenges posed by resource strain and staff morale, but he has the benefit of starting the job with exceptional familiarity of the enforcement program and the credibility and considerable experience he has developed both from working at the SEC in prior years and defending against SEC investigations and enforcement actions more recently,\u201d Magee said.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid will leverage his prior SEC service, expertise in accounting, and leadership roles as an in-house and defense attorney to bring an informed perspective to the job. I think David will, as he always has, lead with authenticity and collegiality while also ensuring staff understand and are accountable to the Chairman\u2019s vision and the importance of bringing fair and balanced cases based on admissible evidence and sound legal theory.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Texas Lawbook is an online news publication focused on business law in Texas.For a longer version of this story, visit texaslawbook.net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Woodcock, pictured in October 2011 after his appointment to Regional Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-242333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
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