The former co-chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s asset management unit is moving to private practice for the first time in his career, joining Dechert in Washington, D.C., after 18 years with the regulator.

Anthony Kelly joined the SEC as a securities compliance examiner in 2000 and stayed with the agency on completing law school as a night student at Georgetown University Law Center. He rose through the ranks and spent the last two and a half years in the leadership role in the SEC Enforcement Division’s largest specialized unit.