This past summer Nicole Alkire (3L) worked at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The SEC's mission is to protect investors and promote fair and efficient markets.

Alkire spent the summer working in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, spending half her time on a team of investigative attorneys and the other half of her time with a group of attorneys in the Office of Distributions. As a member of the investigative team, she worked with two attorneys to compile evidence for an international insider trading case. The experience afforded her the opportunity to see how cases brought by the Commission develop from the initial tip through the investigation to the point of litigation or settlement.

With the Office of Distributions, Alkire petitioned courts and the Commission to establish "Fair Funds" with funds collected as disgorgement and penalties and to distribute those funds to injured investors. When the SEC obtains disgorged funds or penalties, those funds almost never stay with the SEC, but instead are either distributed to harmed investors, donated to a charity, or turned over to the United States Treasury. The process of developing a plan of distribution often requires hearings and judge or Commission approval of the SEC's proposed mode and amount of allocation.

"Overall, I had a wonderful summer at the SEC and am grateful to Students in Public Interest Law (SPIL) for helping to make it possible," Alkire said.

To learn more about SPIL click here.