Stephen L. Cohen

Leveraging his extensive experience at the SEC, Steve has a proven track record for guiding his clients through their most difficult matters and achieving exceptional results. He is a leading advisor to the financial industry and has represented numerous public companies and their boards, Audit Committees, Special Committees, or executives, as well as SEC registrants, in internal investigations and matters involving the SEC, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), state attorneys general, and securities regulators.

Steve is ranked by Chambers USA for Nationwide Securities: Regulation: Enforcement (2020–2024), where he is lauded for his “incredible expertise” and is described as a “sharp and powerful lawyer who is very bright, methodical and detail-orientated” (2023). Steve leads Sidley’s global Securities Enforcement and Regulatory practice, which was named the “Law Firm of the Year” for Litigation – Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy) in 2023 and 2021 and for Securities Regulation in 2020 and 2017 by U.S. News – Best Lawyers, and received the 2019 Chambers USA Award for Financial Services Regulation.

Before joining Sidley, Steve spent 12 years at the SEC, most recently serving as Associate Director in the Enforcement Division where he oversaw domestic and international enforcement investigations involving accounting and disclosure fraud, auditor misconduct, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), insider trading, registered and unregistered securities offerings, market abuses, broker-dealers, investment advisers, exchanges, public company and accounting issues, and other regulated entities. In addition, Steve worked closely with and advised federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies from including investigative coordination and providing advice and training on enforcement and investigations issues to regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world. As Senior Advisor to then SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, Steve also led the SEC’s work in relation to the whistleblower provisions in Dodd-Frank and subsequent rulemaking, oversaw the rulemaking establishing a Consolidated Audit Trail, and he directed the creation of the agency’s Tips, Complaints and Referrals system.

Steve won the SEC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016, the agency’s highest honor, for his skill in managing one of the division’s most productive groups, bringing many of the commission’s most significant actions, significantly expanding the SEC’s ability to protect investors and driving initiatives that improved the division’s performance. The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics presented Steve with its 2017 International Compliance & Ethics award, recognizing him for his significant contributions to the compliance and ethics profession.