Jennifer Leete

Jennifer S. Leete is Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office and a member of the Investigations and Regulatory Enforcement Practice. She is a former Associate Director in the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she served for more than 20 years.

Ms. Leete “has the respect of the SEC, knows how to win a case” and is a “go-to for the most sophisticated problems.” (Chambers USA) A “leader in the space,” Ms. Leete represents public and private companies, financial institutions, auditors, audit committees, boards of directors, executives and board members in connection with sensitive and complex investigations, enforcement and regulatory matters. (Chambers USA) She also conducts internal investigations on behalf of board committees and companies and advises clients on corporate governance and regulatory compliance issues.

As a Senior Officer and member of the Division of Enforcement’s leadership team, Ms. Leete supervised a broad range of highly complex investigations and enforcement actions, managed a team of approximately 50 attorneys and collaborated closely with the SEC’s regulatory divisions. She regularly coordinated the resolution of matters with other authorities, including the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, state securities regulators, international securities regulators and self‑regulatory organizations, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

During her tenure at the SEC, Ms. Leete investigated, supervised and filed enforcement actions involving financial fraud and disclosure violations at public companies, as well as misconduct at major broker‑dealers, investment advisers, accounting firms, private funds and self‑regulatory organizations. She also led investigations in emerging areas of the securities laws, including issues related to ESG, digital assets and cryptocurrencies, SPACs and Regulation Best Interest, in addition to insider trading, internet and offering frauds, and Ponzi schemes.

Ms. Leete joined the SEC in 1999 as a Staff Attorney in the Division of Enforcement. She became a Branch Chief in 2003 and an Assistant Director in 2010. She is a recipient of the Capital Markets Award, the Chairman’s Award for Excellence and several Division Director Awards. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Leete was a litigator in private practice in Washington, D.C.

Chambers USA recognizes Ms. Leete as a leading lawyer in securities regulation enforcement. Benchmark Litigation has named her a “Litigation Star” for New York. In addition, Lawdragon has selected Ms. Leete as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” “500 Leading Litigators in America” and “500 Global Leaders in Crisis Management.” The Legal 500 US has recommended her for her work in white collar criminal defense. Ms. Leete has also been named as one of the country’s top enforcement lawyers by Securities Docket.

Ms. Leete is a thought leader on the topics of securities enforcement, investigations and compliance matters. She is the Managing Editor of the 2025 and 2023 editions of the Practising Law Institute’s SEC Compliance and Enforcement Answer Book, for which she also contributed three chapters. Ms. Leete served as co‑editor of Global Investigations Review’s third edition of the “Guide to International Enforcement of the Securities Laws,” for which she co‑authored the introduction and a chapter. She regularly speaks at the University of Southern California’s Annual SEC and Financial Reporting Conference, as well as other conferences.

Ms. Leete received a B.A. in 1990 from the College of William & Mary and a J.D. in 1993 from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was the Managing Editor of the Maryland Law Review.