- U.S. & Americas
- Lateral moves
- Regulatory
Skadden announced on 27 October 2026 that it had hired regulatory partners Andrew Dean and Christopher Mulligan from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Dean will join the white-collar and investigations group in New York, while Mulligan will join the investment management group in Washington, D.C., The American Lawyer reported.
Both had been at Weil for fewer than three years. Both joined the firm directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dean and Mulligan join Skadden from Weil after SEC enforcement roles
Dean was Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit. He oversaw a nationwide staff and led enforcement actions against investment advisers, registered funds and private funds before joining Weil as a partner in January 2025, Weil said at the time. Mulligan spent 11 years at the SEC. He was most recently Investment Adviser/Private Funds Senior Advisor and Co-Coordinator of the Private Funds Specialized Working Group, then joined Weil's private funds practice in Washington in March 2024, according to the firm. He arrived about three months after SEC private-funds veteran Christopher Scully joined Weil in a similar capacity.
The moves remove two regulators from Weil's private funds build-out. Weil's Private Funds Group has added roughly 30 attorneys since 2020 and now has more than 100 lawyers across the US and UK. Those additions include Sara Allawi in New York in April 2026, Sophie Smith in London in October 2024 and Phil Baynes in London in July 2025, the firm said. Weil also recruited former SEC Acting Enforcement Director Sanjay Wadhwa in February 2025, according to the firm.
Skadden added Monica Freas and an investment funds trio in June 2026
Skadden had already been building its regulatory practice in 2026. In June, it added Monica Freas, a 20-year OCC veteran and former director of enforcement, to its Financial Institutions Regulatory Group. That followed the earlier additions of financial institutions partner Michael Reed and derivatives partner Tim Elliott, Skadden said. A week later, it hired an investment funds trio: Robert Griffin and Skye Smith in Abu Dhabi's ADGM office, and Kapil Vishnu Pandit in Washington. All three joined its Investment Management Group as partners, according to Lawdragon. Dean and Mulligan extend that hiring into enforcement and investment adviser work.
More than 600 SEC staff left after January 2025 departure offers
More than 600 people, or over 12% of SEC staff, agreed to leave the agency after White House voluntary departure offers began in January 2025. The Enforcement Division and Office of General Counsel were hit hardest, according to CorpDev.org. The 200 largest-grossing US firms hired more than 1,100 former federal lawyers in 2025. That nearly doubled the federal share of partner-level lateral moves from a historical 4 to 5 percent, LawVision reported.
The agency faces staffing shortages that are not expected to ease before 2027. That has focused hiring on senior SEC alumni, CorpDev.org said. Partners recruited in the first wave now move between firms instead of coming from government. Firms that hired early can lose those lawyers to other firms.
Atkins' SEC refocuses enforcement on fraud while asset management stays a priority
Under Chair Paul Atkins, the SEC published a deregulatory rulemaking agenda in July 2026. The agenda included changes to the accredited investor definition and private placement reforms affecting private fund sponsors, Cleary Gottlieb noted. The agency has refocused enforcement on fraud and market manipulation and stepped back from regulation by enforcement. Undisclosed conflicts of interest remain an area of attention for private fund advisers, according to Proskauer.
SEC enforcement has kept its focus on asset management. The FY2026 examination priorities flag alternative investments, extended lock-up funds, complex products and high-cost investments, Reed Smith said. Dean's enforcement background and Mulligan's experience with investment advisers and private funds fit that work.
Weil, overtaken by New York Big Law peers in profitability, has been trying to catch up, Bloomberg Law reported. The move takes away two partners Weil recruited within the past three years. Skadden's June 2026 hires, followed by Dean and Mulligan, give it regulatory partners with SEC backgrounds in enforcement and investment management as the agency's post-2025 departures continue to change where that experience sits.
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