Rachel Nonaka on the Extraordinary State of the Market for SEC Enforcement and Other Government Attorneys
“I mean, honestly, I have not seen anything like this.” Rachel Nonaka, a top legal recruiter at Macrae who focuses on placing senior SEC Enforcement officials with major law firms, joins Bruce to discuss the extraordinary state of the legal market as we begin 2025: “It is truly remarkable how many phone calls we are getting and how many candidates we have on the market right now. I mean, honestly, I have not seen anything like this,” Rachel says. Rachel, who herself spent over a decade in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement before joining Macrae, discusses the flood of candidates who, with the Trump 2.0 Administration imminent, are looking to leave the government now to join the private sector. She also addresses the continued high level of demand from law firms, even after a number of very high-profile hires of SEC Enforcement officials in the past few months. Rachel walks through the types of SEC experience and seniority law firms are looking for, and which cities currently have the highest demand for lawyers leaving the SEC. She also addresses recent statements from top execs at Coinbase that they will not retain any law firms that hire "anti-crypto government lawyers," and whether that is impacting the market. Finally, Rachel discusses other types of government experience (DOJ, FINRA, PCAOB) that is, or is not, in demand now, as well as the state of the lateral partner market and what size “book of business” law firms are looking for from lateral candidates. Rachel Nonaka – Bio: https://www.macrae.com/rachel-nonaka Article: “Government Attorneys Are Flooding the Job Market, But Is There Room in Big Law? (National Law Journal, December 18, 2024): https://www.law.com/2024/12/18/government-attorneys-are-flooding-the-job-market-but-is-there-room-in-big-law
