The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continued its move to install more aggressive leadership at the top of the agency’s Fort Worth Regional Office Wednesday when it named Jessica Magee to be its new associate director of enforcement.
Lawyers who work closely with the SEC describe Magee as a tough, hard-nosed prosecutor-type who does not shy away from complex cases, high-profile targets or even cases that are politically sensitive.
“Jessica’s vision of leadership and style and her substantive knowledge of the SEC’s work make her perfectly qualified for the position,” Shamoil Shipchandler, director of the Fort Worth Regional Office, said in an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook.
“Jessica will have insight and input into every case we bring,” Shipchandler said. “During her tenure, Jessica has successfully resolved some of the most complex and challenging cases in our office.”
Several lawyers with considerable knowledge of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office say that Magee’s prosecutorial approach to cases is much more aligned with Shipchandler, who was formerly the head of white-collar criminal division of the Eastern District of Texas.
“Jessica is smart, hard-working and very aggressive,” said Kelly, Hart & Hallman partner Toby Galloway, who was the former chief trial counsel at the SEC. “While some at the SEC have been the type to pause when they hit a wall, Jessica is the type to run through the wall.”
Former federal prosecutor Richard Roper, who worked with Magee at Thompson & Knight, said she is “an amazing lawyer.”
“Jessica is very aggressive,” Roper said. “I once told her that she has the blood of a prosecutor flowing through her veins.”
Magee is the second woman to serve as associate director of enforcement in the SEC’s regional office in Fort Worth, which covers all of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Haynes and Boone partner Kit Addleman was the first woman to hold the position.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I am excited to lead Fort Worth’s enforcement team,” Magee said in a written statement issued by the SEC. “In our diverse and complex region, we will continue to protect investors while adapting to meet the continuing challenges of technology and sophistication.”
Magee worked as a litigation associate for Thompson & Knight in Dallas. She earned her law degree cum laude from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from Texas State University. She has received a number of awards for her work, including the SEC’s Ferdinand Pecora Award in 2014 and Arthur F. Mathews Award in 2015.