A recent address by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, along with recent pronouncements by the leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission, confirm that the Biden Administration wants to portend a return to tougher corporate enforcement. By undoing some of the higher profile policy changes of the prior administration that many perceived as business-friendly, the current administration has served notice on the business and financial community of a return to practices characteristic of a more aggressive enforcement regime.

The Administration’s signaling a change in tone was widely expected. If that change in tone means, more substantively, that the Justice Department, SEC, and other federal law enforcement agencies intend to shift their priorities and reallocate resources toward effectively investigating and prosecuting more complex business cases, the results should be revealed in the enforcement numbers and the headlines over the coming months and years. Time will tell.