Paredes to Succeed Atkins at SEC

President Bush intends to nominate Washington University Law School Professor Troy Paredes to the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing Paul Atkins, a Republican commissioner who has announced his plan to step down once his successor is in place.

Atkins is serving a five-year term that ends in June.

Paredes, 37, has taught securities law at the St. Louis school since 2001 and has written about hedge funds and corporate governance.

According to a Dow Jones wire report, Paredes’s supporters describe him as a “bright and thoughtful lawyer with a keen interest in policymaking.”

In working papers in 2006 and 2007, Paredes took issue with a controversial SEC rule increasing oversight of hedge fund advisors. The 2004 rule, adopted despite opposition of Atkins and fellow Republican commissioner Cynthia Glassman, was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2006.

Paredes was a member of the corporate securities group at Irell & Manella, an associate in the corporate and energy and natural resources departments at Steptoe & Johnson, and worked in the corporate department at O'Melveny & Myers.

 
Following the departure of its two Democrat commissioners, the five-member SEC has been operating for several months with Republicans only: Atkins, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and Commissioner Kathleen Casey.

The party that controls the White House has three seats on the panel. On the recommendation of Senate Democrats, Bush recently nominated Luis Aguilar, the former general counsel of investment management firm Invesco PLC, and Elisse Walter, a securities industry regulator, to fill the two Democratic slots. All three candidates await Senate confirmation.