Exclusive: US SEC taps Gibson Dunn attorney to be new enforcement director

Source: Reuters

April 8, 2026 11:40 AM EDT Updated 6 hours ago


NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - 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.

Woodcock, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Dallas, Texas, will join the SEC to lead the more than 1,000-person division beginning May 4, the SEC said in a statement. He will replace Margaret Ryan, who resigned just six months into the ​job after clashing with the agency's leaders over the direction of the enforcement program, Reuters previously reported.

Reuters was first to report ​Woodcock's appointment. Woodcock is a longtime securities lawyer who led the SEC’s Fort Worth, Texas, regional office from ⁠2011 to 2015, where he helped create a task force aimed at rooting out accounting and financial reporting misconduct, the SEC said.

After ​leaving the SEC in his previous stint, Woodcock worked at Jones Day and ExxonMobil before joining Gibson Dunn, where he is co-chair ​of the firm's securities enforcement practice group, according to his LinkedIn and law firm profiles. "My commitment is to lead the division with the highest level of professionalism and rigor as we execute the chairman’s vision and ensure the integrity of our financial markets," Woodcock said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-sec-taps-gibson-dunn-attorney-be-new-enforcement-director-sources-say-2026-04-08/