Meyer Eisenberg, Deputy General Counsel and Acting Director of Division of Investment Management, to Retire from SEC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2005-173

Washington, D.C., December 6, 2005 — Meyer Eisenberg, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Deputy General Counsel and Acting Director of the Division of Investment Management, announced that he will retire from the SEC in January. Eisenberg has accepted an appointment as Visiting Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Ore.

Eisenberg has served as Deputy General Counsel of the Commission since December 1998. The Office of the General Counsel represents the Commission in all actions pending in appellate courts, advises the Commission on all enforcement and rulemaking matters, and assists the Commission with its adjudicatory responsibilities.

As Deputy General Counsel, Eisenberg was involved in a number of significant Commission rulemaking proceedings and litigation matters, including

• rules related to the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley reforms, including the rules relating to lawyers and their responsibilities;
   
• rulemaking and enforcement actions under the Investment Company and Advisers Acts designed to deal with such issues as late trading, market timing and shelf space/revenue sharing arrangements that were uncovered in the course of the Commission’s inquiry into mutual fund management and distribution practices;
   
• development of the Commission’s interpretive positions on soft dollars generally and particularly under Section 28(e) of the Exchange Act;
   
• rule amendments prohibiting the allocation of fund brokerage for distribution under Rule 12b-1 of the Investment Company Act;
   
• development of Commission positions on best execution;
   
• fund governance rules, including, most recently, the increase in mutual fund independent directors to 75% and the designation of an independent director as chairman, to qualify for certain exemptions and the response to ensuing litigation brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce;
   
• the hedge fund adviser registration rule; and
   
• Regulation FD (fair disclosure).

Eisenberg also served as Acting Director of the Division of Investment Management since April 2005. In that role, he was responsible for guiding the Commission’s administration of the Investment Company and Investment Advisers Acts as well as overseeing the development of regulatory policy related to mutual funds and investment advisers.

“Mike’s experience spans decades that saw dramatic increases in the number of Americans who invest,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.  “For his work to protect investors over the years, and for helping to keep America’s capital markets the world’s ‘gold standard,’ Mike deserves the gratitude of all investors.  As just one example, between the time Mike joined the SEC and today, the mutual fund industry grew from $40 billion to more than $8 trillion.  Mike is one of the most admired and well-respected leaders of the SEC’s highly professional staff.  The Commission, the staff, and I will all miss him.”

Giovanni Prezioso, the General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said, “Mike is a truly exceptional securities lawyer and public servant, whose willingness to fight for the interests of investors has made an enduring contribution to this agency and to its mission.  He has, moreover, been a tremendous colleague and friend, and I will greatly miss his warm sense of humor, dogged optimism and unshakeable commitment to doing the right thing, even in the most difficult of circumstances.”

Eisenberg said, “I have great regard for the Securities and Exchange Commission as an institution, and I am pleased to have been able to spend some of the most rewarding years of my career working on a broad array of regulatory initiatives and litigation designed to further the agency’s mission of investor protection through full disclosure, fair dealing and honest markets."

From 1970-1998, Eisenberg was in private practice. In 1985-1986, he was Director, National Center on Financial Services and Visiting Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley. During 1988-1990, he was Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University. Eisenberg has served as chairman of a number of committees in the Sections of Business Law and International Law of the American Bar Association and as a member of the Council of the Section of Business Law. He has for many years been a member of the Advisory Board of the Annual Securities Regulation Institute of Northwestern University.

Eisenberg previously served at the Commission from 1959-1970. During that period, he was the Executive Assistant to then Chairman Manuel F. Cohen, Associate General Counsel, a member of the staff of the Special Study of Securities Markets, and Assistant Chief Counsel of the Division of Investment Management. He served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice William M. McAllister of the Supreme Court of Oregon from 1958-1959. Eisenberg earned his law degree from Columbia University, and his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2005-173.htm