Daniel Hawke

Partner, Arnold & Porter

Dan Hawke, a former chief of the SEC's Market Abuse Unit and Director of the SEC's Philadelphia Regional office, counsels clients on all manner of SEC enforcement, examination and regulatory policy matters. With a focus on complex trading, equity market structure enforcement, and investment adviser compliance issues, Mr. Hawke defends companies and individuals facing SEC enforcement inquiries and litigation. Recognized by the Securities Docket as one of the top 40 "best and brightest" securities defense lawyers in the country, Mr. Hawke has nearly thirty years of combined government and private practice experience.

Mr. Hawke represents both individuals and entities in responding to regulatory and enforcement inquiries, preparing for SEC inspections and examinations, conducting internal investigations and answering corporate governance, internal control, whistleblower and compliance questions. He has represented public companies, accounting firms, broker-dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity firms, business development companies, alternative trading systems and national securities exchanges. He advises board members, corporate executives, compliance officers, professional traders and other industry participants. Mr. Hawke offers deep insight into and perspective on the SEC, how it operates, and what to expect during an SEC examination or investigation.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hawke served for sixteen years at the SEC, including more than ten years as a Senior Officer in the Division of Enforcement. As the first chief of the Enforcement Division's Market Abuse Unit (2010-2015), a national specialized enforcement unit that investigates trading, market manipulation and market structure violations, Mr. Hawke supervised numerous significant SEC enforcement actions involving complex, hard-to-detect trading abuse, "organized" insider trading, Reg. NMS, Reg. ATS and Reg. SHO violations, market access issues, layering and spoofing, cross-market arbitrage and latent market manipulations.

Under Mr. Hawke's leadership, the Market Abuse Unit developed innovative trading surveillance technology and used quantitative methods to detect abusive trading schemes and conduct groundbreaking "trader-based" investigations. He created the unit's Analysis and Detection Center to identify potential violations of the federal securities laws including those involving insider trading, hacking and cybersecurity schemes.

As Director of the SEC's Philadelphia Regional Office for eight years (2006-2014), Mr. Hawke oversaw the Commission's enforcement program and broker-dealer, investment adviser and investment company examination programs in the Mid-Atlantic region. In that position, he supervised hundreds of investigations and enforcement actions involving computer hacking, insider trading, conflicts of interest, Ponzi schemes, offering frauds, FCPA, public company accounting, financial reporting, information controls and supervision violations.

Mr. Hawke is the recipient of the SEC's Stanley Sporkin Award (2008), the Ellen B. Ross Award (2001), and, as a member of the Cutillo/Galleon/Stephanou and "Flash Crash" investigation teams, two Chairman's Awards for Excellence (2009, 2010). He is the recipient of multiple Division of Enforcement Director's Awards.


Appearances