Faint Praise For SEC’s Proposed Rule Changes

Critics say the deck is stacked against respondents in the SEC’s administrative court proceedings, and now the Commission is proposing some changes. They are a step in the right direction, according to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher securities litigation defense attorney Barry R. Goldsmith, but they don’t go far enough. He looks at what’s being proposed in a number of key areas – discovery rules, rules of evidence, and the appeals process and its timetable – and finds improvements, but argues that significant problems remain. He gives an unqualified thumbs up to only one revision, an amendment to Rule 151(a), calling it a “long-overdue step into the 21st century.” It would require electronic filings rather than filings by paper or fax.