SEC Announces Arrival of New Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced recently that classmate Cameron Elliot has joined the agency as an Administrative Law Judge.

Mr. Elliot has been based in New York as an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration since June 2008. He was previously an attorney at the law firm of Darby & Darby P.C. in New York, where he handled intellectual property litigation. Prior to his private-sector work, Mr. Elliot spent eight years at the U.S. Department of Justice, starting in 1998 as a trial attorney in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for civil litigation in patent and copyright cases. From November 2001 until September 2006, Mr. Elliot was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, first in the Southern District of Florida and then in the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Elliot graduated from Harvard Law School in 1996 and clerked for Judge Edward Reed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada from July 1996 to August 1998. Mr. Elliot holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and applied physics from Yale College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1987. He then served for six years as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve.

Administrative law judges are independent judicial officers who rule on allegations of securities law violations in public administrative proceedings instituted by the Commission. They conduct public hearings, in a manner similar to non-jury trials in federal district courts, issue initial decisions, and have authority to impose a broad range of sanctions. Those sanctions include suspending or revoking the registration of registered securities, brokers, dealers, investment companies, investment advisers, municipal securities dealers, municipal advisors, transfer agents, and nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. In addition, they can order disgorgement, civil penalties, censures, and cease-and-desist orders against these entities, as well as individuals, and can suspend or bar persons from association with these entities or from participating in an offering of penny stock. Parties may appeal an administrative law judge’s decision to the five-member Commission, which can affirm, reverse, or modify it, set it aside, or remand it for further proceedings. Appeals from Commission decisions are to a U.S. Court of Appeals.

SEC Announces Arrival of New Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot