Mark Schonfeld

Mark K. Schonfeld is a litigation partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and co-chair of Gibson Dunn's Securities Enforcement Practice Group. He is also a member of the firm's Crisis Management, Accounting Firm Advisory and Defense and White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Groups.

Mr. Schonfeld’s practice focuses on the representation of financial institutions, public companies, hedge funds, accounting firms and private equity firms in investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), States Attorneys General, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and other regulatory organizations. Mr. Schonfeld also conducts internal investigations and counsels clients on compliance and corporate governance matters.

Benchmark Litigation recognizes Mr. Schonfeld as a Securities “Litigation Star.” He has been ranked as a leading lawyer in Securities Regulation and Enforcement by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and recognized by Who's Who Legal 2023 for Business Crime Defence. Chambers highlights client praise for Mr. Schonfeld’s “invaluable current knowledge of agency practice, procedure and personalities active at the SEC” and notes he is “such a calm influence with clients, but a forceful and persuasive advocate with the commission.” He is “one of the best lawyers in this space” and “a very strategic, seasoned professional. He’s measured, thoughtful and incredibly proactive in terms of keeping clients updated. He’s detail-oriented and produces extremely high quality work.” He has also been recognized by Who’s Who Legal in its Thought Leaders: USA 2024 guide to leading lawyers in Investigations, and has been named a Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader in Investigations by Global Investigations Review in its 2024 Investigations Guide. Mr. Schonefld is also a member of the Editorial Advisor Board of Securities Law360.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Schonfeld concluded a 12-year career with the SEC, the last four years as the Director of the New York Regional Office, the largest of the SEC’s regional offices. Mr. Schonfeld oversaw professional staff of nearly 400 enforcement attorneys, accountants, investigators and compliance examiners engaged in the investigation and prosecution of enforcement actions and the performance of compliance inspections of more than 4,000 SEC registered financial institutions in the region. Mr. Schonfeld led the New York Office through one of the most vibrant and rapidly evolving periods in the history of the SEC and securities law enforcement and brought many of SEC’s major landmark cases dealing with complex accounting fraud, mutual fund trading, hedge fund abuses, foreign bribery, insider trading and market manipulation.

Mr. Schonfeld received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1988 and his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, and with Highest Distinction from the University of Rochester in 1984. Following law school, Mr. Schonfeld was a law clerk for the Honorable Ellsworth A. Van Graafeiland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Following his clerkship and before joining the SEC, Mr. Schonfeld was a litigator in private practice.

Mr. Schonfeld is a frequent public speaker to legal and industry practitioners and commentator on television and radio, and has participated in international training programs for foreign financial regulators and law enforcement agencies. He is a past recipient of the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence and the Capital Markets Award. He is a member of the New York and Massachusetts State Bars, the New York State Bar Association and the Committee on White Collar Criminal Litigation, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Federal Bar Council.