Dabney O'Riordan

Dabney O’Riordan is a partner in Fried Frank’s Litigation and Asset Management Departments. She advises asset managers and public companies on SEC regulatory compliance and represents clients before the SEC and in private disputes. A seasoned litigator with years of experience in both private practice and at the SEC, Dabney offers unparalleled expertise in SEC matters. She regularly develops novel approaches to achieve key client objectives while minimizing regulatory risk, and her extensive experience allows her to effectively engage with the SEC staff regarding substance and policy.

With 17 years of experience at all levels of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, and over various presidential administrations, Dabney’s knowledge enables her to develop creative and effective solutions for clients, leveraging her deep understanding of the SEC’s approach to opening and pursuing investigations. She was the longest-serving leader of the SEC’s national Asset Management Unit (AMU), where from 2016 through 2022, she managed attorneys and industry experts across the SEC who specialized in securities law violations by investment advisors to private equity funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, retail accounts and other investment vehicles. Dabney directed the SEC Enforcement Division’s efforts to address emerging issues in the asset management industry, and regularly collaborated with other senior leaders in the Division of Examinations and Division of Investment Management. While at the SEC, Dabney conceived of and led a key enforcement initiative, for which she was awarded the Chairman’s Award for Main Street Investors and that then-SEC Chairman Jay Clayton described as having “immediate and lasting benefits . . .”

Before leading the national AMU, Dabney led the SEC Los Angeles Regional Office’s Enforcement program as Associate Regional Director, overseeing the office’s enforcement priorities, investigations, and litigation involving public companies, insider trading, brokers, and investment advisers. Prior to that, Dabney spent eleven years investigating, litigating, and managing matters within the SEC’s Enforcement Division, frequently working in parallel with the federal criminal authorities.

Prior to joining Fried Frank, Dabney was a partner at an international law firm. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable David R. Thompson, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.