Danette Edwards

As a former Senior Counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Enforcement Division, Danette Edwards offers clients deep insight into antifraud and other securities laws, and is a trusted resource for navigating investigations and enforcement matters.

During her time with the SEC, Danette helped the agency obtain judgments ordering companies and individuals to pay more than $595 million to investors and the U.S. Treasury. She received multiple awards from the Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division for her work on investigations and litigation, and a trio of cases that she recently prosecuted were included in a select group of matters highlighted in the SEC Enforcement Division's 2020 Annual Report to Congress.

Having recently rejoined the private sector after more than a decade on the front lines of the SEC's enforcement efforts, Danette offers sound guidance to companies and individuals on SEC-related matters of all types, including suspected financial and disclosure fraud; alleged misconduct by auditors, broker-dealers, and investment advisors; and violations in areas of new interest to the SEC. Her practice includes advising clients involved in SEC Enforcement Division investigations and litigation, with a related focus on internal, special committee and non-SEC government and regulatory investigations; securities class action defense; and complex economic litigation. Danette draws on her significant SEC experience in examining witnesses and analyzing complicated data sets, and she uses her former regulator mindset to identify potential risks and promising theories and defenses so that she can make sound recommendations to clients in high-stakes matters.

Danette's practice also includes a cross-disciplinary compliance and risk management component that is critical for public companies as well as private sector and nonprofit clients. Danette advises on records and information management (RIM) best practices; cybersecurity; and environmental, social and governance (ESG) questions concerning environmentally sustainable finance, and diversity and inclusion as components of social governance.

Danette frequently writes and presents on topics such as enforcement risks related to SEC rulemaking, significant SEC enforcement actions and other cases involving challenges to core aspects of the SEC's enforcement program.

Prior to joining the SEC, Danette was a white collar and commercial litigator at a national law firm, where she defended market participants and other players in public and private actions, and helped to establish the firm's records management practice. She also worked for the Honorable Catherine C. Blake, Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.