SONIA BARROS co-leads the firm’s Public Companies practice focused on advising clients in corporate disclosures and governance matters. She is also a co-leader of the firm’s global ESG practice. Formerly the Chief Corporate Governance Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Sonia was the Division’s senior advisor on corporate governance policy and disclosures. Prior to that, Sonia served as the Assistant Director in the SEC’s Office of Real Estate and Commodities, where she had oversight authority for thousands of transactions and reviews of corporate disclosures, including financial statements, under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Sonia brings extensive experience in advising public companies on SEC disclosures and compliance, corporate governance, and capital markets transactions. She plays a strategic role in advising clients on emerging areas of corporate disclosures. Her experience includes a number of leadership roles at the SEC over 17 years and 12 years in the private sector.
Sonia is ranked by Chambers USA for Nationwide Securities: Regulation: Advisory (2025), where clients note that her “background and expertise are tremendously helpful for her clients,” she is “a specialist through and through,” and she is a “very strong attorney who knows the law very well” (2025). Sonia has also been recognized on the 2024 National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) 100 Governance Professionals list, and she has been included in the 2023 Lawdragon “Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law.”
Sonia is a member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Committee on the Federal Regulation of Securities and chair of the Public Reporting and Compliance Subcommittee. She has participated in the drafting committee for ABA comment letters on numerous SEC rulemakings, such as the proposed rules on climate disclosures, share repurchases, SPACs, and shareholder proposals.