The news broke yesterday that Thomas Sporkin and Robert Kaplan will both be leaving the SEC's Enforcement Division this month to join law firms. With their departures, the SEC will lose two of its key Enforcement lawyers with a combined 37 years of experience at the agency.

Sporkin, currently Chief of the SEC's Office of Market Intelligence, will join law firm BuckleySandler on June 18 in its criminal and civil enforcement defense practice. He leaves the SEC after serving for 20 years in the Division of Enforcement. Over the past two and a half years at the agency, Sporkin has established and led OMI, a 50 person unit created in the aftermath of the Madoff fraud to detect ongoing unlawful conduct spanning across all SEC program areas. Prior to that, Sporkin was Deputy Chief in the SEC's Office of Internet Enforcement.

Kaplan, who is the Co-Chief of the Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit, will join law firm Debevoise & Plimpton on June 5. As Co-Chief of that unit, Kaplan leads a team of 75 lawyers and industry experts focused on potential securities law violations by advisers to hedge funds, private equity funds, mutual funds and separately managed accounts. Kaplan joined the Division of Enforcement in 1995, and has held other positions at the agency including Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the Division's Trial Unit and Assistant Director of the Division of Enforcement.

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