SEC Appoints Temporary GC

02/02/09

SEC Appoints Temporary GC

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission appointed Andrew N. Vollmer as acting general counsel. Vollmer was previously the deputy general counsel. Previous GC Brian Cartwright left the SEC this week for the private sector and Vollmer is stepping in for the time being. Vollmer will be the commission's chief and head the Office of General Counsel. In this role he will lead the office as it continues to advise the SEC on enforcement, rulemaking, and appeals.

Obama Names GC of Budget Office
President Obama continues to build his administration and named the general counsel and senior adviser for the Office of Management and Budget on Friday. Preeta D. Bansal, currently a partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, seems a promising choice for the position. Bansal has had valuable experience in government before, working from 1999 to 2002 in the New York attorney general's office as solicitor general. She also served in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1996 as a counselor in the Office of Policy Development as well as in the Antitrust Division of the US justice Department. Bansal received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude. She was also active in raising funds for the Obama campaign.

Success for GC Despite Poor Economy
Sean Finn, chief legal officer and secretary as well as executive vice president for corporate services of the Canadian National Railway Co. (CN), has excelled at what he does despite the poor economy. Since taking his current position last year, he has helped transfigure the company from what he called a ''bloated government bureaucracy'' to a highly successful endeavor. CN has been expanding since the late '90s with the goal of achieving north-south and east-west shipping capability from Vancouver to Nova Scotia and then down into the United States to the Gulf Coast. Some of Finn's advice to achieve success includes keeping things in-house as much as possible; encouraging his attorneys to be involved in their communities; and above all focus, discipline, and organization. For anyone who is hoping to achieve what Finn has in any business, he offers the additional advice of learning the ''basics of the business—not from the comfort of your suite, but rather out there with the folks that make it run on a daily basis.''