September 14, 2021
New York, NY (September 14, 2021) --- Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP today announced that Robert B. Stebbins, former General Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has rejoined the Firm as a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department, where he will head the Firm’s Corporate Governance practice. He is based in the Firm’s New York office. Prior to joining the SEC in 2017, he worked at Willkie for 24 years, first as an associate and beginning in 2001 as a partner.
“Bob is a skilled leader and talented practitioner who helped navigate numerous novel and complex issues faced by the SEC. His direct experience and deep understanding of the regulatory and legal intricacies that companies face today will be a tremendous benefit to our clients,” said Thomas Cerabino, Firm Chairman. “We are delighted to welcome him back to the Firm.”
As the SEC’s chief legal officer and head of its Office of the General Counsel (OGC), Bob led a 150-person team responsible for, among other things, advising on rulemaking matters and enforcement actions, and preparing Commission opinions in adjudications. He led OGC during one of the most active and wide-ranging rule calendars in the agency's history, advising on more than 85 rules, and hundreds of Commission and staff orders and interpretive releases. During his tenure, OGC also provided day-to-day guidance to the SEC’s Enforcement Division on over 2,750 enforcement actions. In his capacity as General Counsel, he structured and supervised internal investigations, coordinated interagency matters with other federal agencies, provided briefings to Congressional committees and was actively involved in the restarting of the SEC’s Fellowship Program with a focus on hiring minority attorneys. During the spring of 2020, he was detailed to the Department of the Treasury to advise on the CARES Act implementation (while at the same time continuing to function as the SEC’s General Counsel), for which service he received the Secretary of Treasury’s Honor Award.
Bob Stebbins commented: “After previously spending more than 20 years at Willkie, I could not be happier to rejoin the firm and my former colleagues here. The firm’s lawyers are talented and well-respected, its culture is collaborative, and the dedication to client service is exceptional. I look forward to further developing my practice and drawing upon my regulatory experience to help our clients.”
Willkie’s Corporate & Financial Services Department advises leading companies across industries in all aspects of corporate and financial transactions, including purchasing and selling businesses and companies, raising capital and implementing other commercial transactions. Willkie is consistently ranked among the nation’s leading firms for mergers and acquisitions, representing buyers, sellers, special committees of boards, debt and equity investors and financial advisors in some of the most significant and complex acquisition transactions. Our attorneys advise on notable domestic matters, as well as complex cross-border transactions, working in close cooperation with our European offices.
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm of approximately 1,000 attorneys with offices in Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and Washington. The Firm is headquartered in New York City at 787 Seventh Avenue.
Tel: 212.728.8000.
