After 24 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, McKown took her talents to Jones Day to become a leading SEC defense lawyer for major public companies.

Growing up in St. Louis and attending Drake University Law School, Joan McKown never thought she’d end up in the big city. But a judicial clerkship led her to Washington D.C. and eventually her job at the SEC. McKown wrote the book on securities enforcement at the Commission and guided it through fundamental changes like Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank.