Covington & Burling’s Washington, D.C., offices at 850 10th Street, NW. May 13, 2014. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL.
Covington & Burling said Monday that it has brought on Gerald Hodgkins, a longtime Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who left the agency at the end of last year. Hodgkins was associate director of the SEC’s enforcement division from 2010 through 2017, and was earlier an assistant director of enforcement.
He joins Covington as a partner in the firm’s securities litigation and enforcement and white-collar defense and investigations practices in Washington, D.C. His practice will focus on broker-dealers, investment advisers, public companies and audit firms in accounting-related investigations, and other regulated entities, the firm said.
Gerald “Jerry” Hodgkins
Hodgkins spent two decades at the SEC and oversaw more than 100 enforcement actions there, including against WorldCom Inc. and its executives; former UnitedHealth Group Inc. CEO William McGuire; and Daimler AG.
“I was attracted to Covington because of the quality of its lawyers and its culture of teamwork and collaboration,” Hodgkins said in a statement. “I look forward to playing a key role in enhancing the firm’s SEC enforcement practice and complementing the firm’s prominent white-collar and investigations practice.”
Covington & Burling’s white-collar and investigations practice has been involved in some high profile cases lately. Among other matters, the firm helped Takata Corp. reach its $1 billion deal with the Justice Department over faulty airbags, and Uber tapped Covington partner and former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder last year to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and workplace hostility.
