Letters
Letters As a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission I appreciate the necessity for responsible and constructive criticism of our agency. Further, I believe that the relationship...
...Although my article questioned how well the public is served by this wellestablished system of cooperative enforcement, it did not suggest improper purposes on the part of Messrs...
...Bialkin and Mr...
...As a result of my close professional contacts with both Mr...
...As to the other comments made by Ms...
...me author replies: The incident involving Messrs...
...It originally appeared on the cover and jacket of China and the Major Powers in East Asia by A. Doak Barnett, published by The Brookings Institution...
...The expertise that such an attorney develops on the Commission’s staff is a valuable asset not only to the attorney’s clients but to the public at large, because such a lawyer is in a position to give sound advice which is consistent with the requirements of the federal securities laws and responsive to this agency’s policies...
...However, I do not believe that the article by John A. Jenkins that appeared in the February issue of The Washington Monthly [“Such Good Friends: The SEC and the Security Lawyers”] contributed to intelligent discourse on this subject, in part because of the personal insinuations made against persons mentioned in the article...
...However, without a sophisticated and cooperative securities bar, a greater prosecutorial capability would be required...
...Bialkin and Mr...
...Although this is not the appropriate vehicle for setting forth my views on all the issues raised by Mr...
...I regret any inference by readers to the contrary...
...Sporkin and Bialkin was used to illustrate the close relationship that often exists between the Commission and the private bar...
...The federal securities laws are in many respects self-executing and do not require a large federal bureaucracy for their administration...
...Jenkins that there is an improper personal relationship between Mr...
...ROBERTA S. KARMEL Washington, D.C...
...During the course of my career I worked as an SEC staff attorney in the New York regional office at a time when Stanley Sporkin was an administrator in the Division of Trading and Markets...
...Jenkins, I wish to at least disagree with the suggestion that there is something improper about the relationship between the Commission and the securities bar because such a large proportion of that bar is composed of SEC alumni...
...Karmel, I stand by my reporting...
...Subsequently, I worked as an associate in a law firm where Kenneth Bialkin is a partner...
...Further, I believe that the relationship between the Commission and the securities bar is worth examining and discussing...
...The suggestion in the article by Mr...
...Sporkin, I developed a respect for the legal ability and professional integrity of each of them...
...As I stated in my article, I am concerned that the Commission, by joining in an enforcement partnership with corporate lawyers representing clients whose interests must necessarily differ from those of the SEC, may be depriving itself of the independence it needs to effectively police our vast securities markets...
...Sporkin is a disservice to the Commission and the securities bar and wiU not be taken seriously by any attorney who knows either of them...
...Bialkin, Sporkin, or anyone else named in the article...
...The “revolving door” between a regulatory agency and the bar that practices before it is a complicated topic which merits thoughtful analysis rather than the critique by innuendo Mr . Jenkins gave it...
...Correction Last month we failed to credit Susan Foster as the artist for the illustration on page 47...
Vol. 10 • April 1978 • No. 2
