Responding to an SEC investigation: two attorneys review the dangers posed by an SEC probe, and the ways in which public companies could and should react to minimize the potential damage, including possible litigation

Public companies ne solitary to read the daily headlines to know that novel corporate scandals have triggered a dramatic increase in the enforcement efforts of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)--and that corporations and corporate officers face an increased risk of being involved in an SEC investigation.

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Statistics bear that on the outside In 2003, the agency hit companies with 679 enforcement actions, a record, and a novel hiring binge has given it unprecedet manpower.

The SEC leaderships both formal and informal investigations of possible securities law violations. Informal investigations generally look after to determine on a preliminary horizontal whether ...