No. 132  Wednesday July 11, 2001	Page A-10 	
	ISSN 1523-567X	
	Regulation, Law & Economics	
		
	Securities and Exchange Commission Bush Formally Nominates New SEC Chair, Tapping Former General Counsel Harvey Pitt	


President Bush formally nominated Washington lawyer Harvey Pitt July 10 to become the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee confirmed that day. 
Pitt, a partner in Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, served as general counsel of the SEC from 1975 to 1978 before entering private practice. The White House said May 10 that it would nominate Pitt to head the agency. 
Pitt's nomination will be considered by the Senate Banking Committee, which is headed by Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), before it can be voted on by the full Senate. The committee spokesman told BNA that no confirmation hearing has yet been scheduled. 
If confirmed by the Senate, Pitt would serve the remainder of a five-year term expiring June 5, 2003. He would succeed Arthur Levitt, a Democrat, who chaired the SEC for seven and a half years before stepping down in February. Levitt was the longest serving SEC chairman in the agency's 67-year history. 

Large Law Practice

Since Levitt's departure, Commissioner Laura Unger has served as the commission's acting chairman. Currently, Unger and Commissioner Isaac Hunt are the only two members of the SEC. 
At Fried Frank, Pitt has developed one of the country's largest and best known securities law practices. He has represented securities industry groups and companies in dispute with the SEC. However, Pitt is perhaps most renowned for having served as defense counsel to the notorious Ivan Boesky at the time of the Wall Street insider trading scandals in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 
Pitt received a J.D. from St. John's University Law School and is a graduate of City University of New York, Brooklyn College. 
In May, news of the president's intention to nominate Pitt sparked seemingly universal praise by key members of Congress, regulators, the securities bar, and the securities industry. 
In response to the formal nomination, the Senate Banking Committee's ranking Republican member, Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), issued a statement saying, "Mr. Pitt has few peers in his depth of experience in the operation of America's securities markets and the impact of the laws and regulations which protect investors." Gramm said he looked forward to "timely consideration" of Pitt's nomination. 
At the same time, Securities Industry Association President Marc Lackritz said of Pitt in a statement, "I believe that under his leadership, the SEC will be an effective advocate for efficient, fair, competitive, and well-regulated U.S. capital markets." The association's general counsel, Stuart Kaswell remarked that "there is no one with a more in-depth knowledge of securities law," and said that Pitt will do "a great job representing investors' interests." 


Copyright ? 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.