Marianne K Smythe

Marianne Smythe is a senior counsel in the firm's Securities Department, and a member of the Investment Management Practice Group. She joined the firm in 1993. Before joining the firm, Ms. Smythe served for two and a half years as the director of the Division of Investment Management of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This division is responsible for regulating investment companies, investment advisers and public utility holding companies, as well as for regulating certain insurance products. Ms. Smythe previously served as executive assistant to SEC Chairman Richard C. Breeden, a position she assumed in April 1990. She served as associate director of the Division of Investment Management from 1988 to 1990. Ms. Smythe advises and represents banks, investment banking firms, mutual funds and other investment companies, investment advisers, pension fund administrators and insurance companies on investment company, investment adviser and broker-dealer regulatory issues, related issues affecting banks and pension funds and other matters involving investment and financial products. Ms. Smythe was a professor at the School of Law of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1981 to 1987), where she taught Administrative Law, Environmental Law and Contracts. She also served as Assistant Provost of the University for several years. Ms. Smythe has served as a council member of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. In addition, she served on the NASD Regulation's Investment Companies Committee and more recently on the Board of the National Endowment for Financial Education.