SEC Muni Office to Add Lawyer

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Municipal Securities will gain another attorney-advisor next month when Edward Fierro comes aboard Nov. 4 from Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Fierro will join an office that has expanded considerably since last summer, when muni chief John Cross announced the additions of attorney fellow Rebecca Olsen and Jessica Kane, a special senior counsel to the director. The muni office also includes Mary Simpkins, another attorney.

Fierro is currently vice president of municipal markets sales and trading compliance at Goldman, a position he will hold until the end of October.

He has experience dealing directly with federal regulators. At Goldman, Fierro provides compliance guidance related to SEC and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules.

Prior to joining Goldman in May he worked at Sidley Austin LLP in New York, serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriters' counsel and purchaser's counsel in transactions that included general obligation bond, revenue bond, and other public finance offerings.

He practiced at the firm for seven years, until June 2013 from 2006, after an internship during the summer of 2005. At Sidley, Fierro provided advice on regulations and the Dodd-Frank Act. Lawrence Bauer, an attorney who worked with him at the law firm, said the new muni office hire will be a great addition to the SEC.

"He's a very good lawyer," Bauer said. "We're sorry that he's not still with us. I'm sure he'll be very successful at the SEC."

Before Sidley, Fierro worked at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and was a judicial extern, another term for intern, for judge George B. Daniels in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

Fierro served in the U.S. Army from 1996-1999 and joined the California National Guard as a legal administrative clerk from 1999-2001. While with the guard, he assisted soldiers filing paperwork for veterans' benefits.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from California State University at San Marcos and obtained a law degree from the University of California at Berkley.

Fierro joins the SEC muni office just weeks after the release of the long-delayed municipal advisor registration rule and at a time of increased securities law enforcement in the muni realm.

The office, which became independent in September 2013 and was mandated to report directly to the SEC chairman by Dodd-Frank, had shrunk prior to the recent hires. John McWilliams, who joined the municipal securities office in late 2010, left in January. Dave Sanchez, another lawyer who came aboard at the same time, departed in May to become general counsel at De La Rosa & Co.

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Law and regulation Washington
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