Should You Become a Supervisor in the Enforcement Division?

This post was written for those of you who are considering whether to become a supervisor on the investigative side of the SEC’s Enforcement Division in the Washington DC office.   Here are a few things you might want to think about.

1. Most will have to work for many years as a staff attorney before getting a chance of getting promoted, at least on the investigative side of the Enforcement Division.  There are a number of supervisory positions, but, for a variety of reasons, most are filled and won’t open up anytime soon.  Once someone is promoted to supervisor, they tend to stay for many many years, meaning there are rarely any openings for promotion.  The reality is that some of the best investigative attorneys have worked for ten or more years as staff attorneys but have very little chance of becoming supervisors any time soon.  Currently there is a semi-permanent group of supervisors on the investigative side, some pretty good, some not so good and some  pretty bad.   Unfortunately, most of the bad and not so good ones aren’t going anywhere in the near future because there is no place for them to go.  Many of the good ones also stay because they enjoy the work and the flexibility the job provides.
2. You can increase your chances of promotion by working in one of the  specialty groups or the trial unit.  There tends to be more turnover in the specialty groups, resulting in more promotion opportunities.  There are also regular openings for supervisors in the trial unit, and those with real trial experience can get promoted relatively quickly (sometimes less than a year).  But there is not much trial work to go around at the SEC and SEC trial unit attorneys are really not sought after by the private sector.
3. Promotions are not strictly based on merit.  In fact, some of the the most qualified individuals may be passed up for promotion for many many years.  Sounds crazy but it is true.  Why?  Well, for a number of reasons.  First, it’s hard to figure out who is the most qualified, amongst the forty or so candidates who apply for each supervisory opening.  Accordingly, many of the vacancies are filled with a person the Associate Director or Unit Chief has worked with closely or personally knows well.  Second, the most effective attorneys in Enforcement, at least in my view, are those that are willing to push the envelope.  These attorneys make excellent prosecutors, bring great cases, but also make only a few friends along the way.  These individuals also tend to make many in the the SEC bureaucracy a little uncomfortable, particularly those who aren’t confident in their own abilities or that want to maintain a friendly relationship with the defense bar.  Third, it’s really hard to distinguish oneself, especially if your assigned cases or supervisor aren’t the best.  There are many talented staffers, and unless one has a strong mentor who is trusted by the front office to really advocate for them a very talented attorney may get passed over time and time again.
4. Do some due diligence on your potential boss.  You should try to work for an Associate Director or Unit Chief who truly excels.  What does this mean?  Well, work for someone who is fearless, persuasive, willing to speak the truth and has good judgment.  Unfortunately, each of these traits are in short supply in the SEC’s Enforcement Division and the combination of them is rarer still.  You may want to settle on an Associate or Unit Chief who is easy to work for and has good judgment.  Also, there is a fair amount of turnover at the top levels so you may not have to work for the same Associate or Unit Chief forever.
5. Do some due diligence on your potential subordinates.  You should figure out who is working in the group before signing up.   How many cases have they brought and what type of cases are they?  Why did the prior supervisor leave?  Hint:  if the group is known as the “Bad News Bears group” it probably won’t change and may even get worse.  Likewise, if there are two or more non performers (a.k.a. donkeys) in the group you will need to spend an inordinate amount of your time dealing with them, and you may end up having to do a lot of their work yourself, a recipe for disaster.  The non performers will also never be capable of bringing complex cases so you will have to find straightforward investigations that they can actually do, which will make the work less interesting and challenging than it could be.   Similarly, if there are crazies in the group, there is a chance they will try and take you out (their self preservation instincts are strong), and you may start driving yourself crazy dealing with the crazy.  On the other hand, if the staff is strong, your job will be extremely rewarding and challenging and you will actually learn a lot from your subordinates.
6. You don’t get to do much investigative work as a supervisor.  If you love doing investigations you might want to think twice before becoming a supervisor because you won’t be able to get very deep into the investigative work.  You will get exposed to more issues and more types of cases, if that’s what you are looking for, plus you get supervisory experience and a valuable title, which can be very useful if you are looking to jump to a law firm.  You also get more pay, more prestige, and more visibility if those are things that interest you.
7. It will take several years to get comfortable as a supervisor and you will need to work extremely hard to get to the point of being comfortable.  You will need to work late and to take work home, often.  The velocity of the work will change in a significant way from what you were accustomed to and any shortcomings you have will quickly be exposed to others.  You will be tested and you will need good guidance and help to succeed.  You also must be comfortable making mistakes because you will make plenty of them.  If you are not good at editing or being persuasive you will be in trouble unless you have staffers who can fill those roles.  You should have some trial experience or understand litigation so you can deal effectively with the trial unit.  Find a peer you can trust to bounce ideas off of.  After a few years of hard work, you may, however, be able to relax just a bit.
8. There is a ton of administrative stuff to do as a supervisor, along with your regular duties.  You must approve leave, certify time, write evaluations, settle disputes, respond to duplicative emails, and encourage staff to attend book clubs, speaker presentations, and what seem like weekly dedications or inclusivity functions.  Doing some of these things on a daily basis may cause you to wonder if the Enforcement Division is straying a bit from its mission and make you long for the time when you actually did real investigative work.  The administrative work does get easier to handle over time, however, even though it seems to increase in volume each year.

If you are just interested in the supervisory title or see the promotion as a stepping stone to your next job, you can ignore all of the above; it’s not really intended for you and won’t matter much if at all.   On the other hand, if you think of the SEC as a potential career and think the position sounds intriguing, you might want to consider some of the points above, particularly numbers 5 and 6.  In any event, like most important decisions, you should give it some very careful thought before deciding what to do.