The Fordham Law community will get an up-close look at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 7 when its chair, Paul S. Atkins, visits the Law School for a lecture.
Atkins will be speaking at the 25th annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture on Corporate, Securities and Financial Law, hosted by Fordham’s Corporate Law Center (CLC), which brings together scholars, professionals, policymakers, and students to study, discuss, and debate current issues and perennial questions in business and financial law. In partnership with the SEC Historical Society, the CLC will host a lecture covering a wide range of issues concerning securities regulation.
“We are thrilled to have the current sitting chair of the SEC visit Fordham Law,” said Amy Martella ’07, executive director of the CLC. “There is a great deal of interest in how Chairman Atkins’ SEC will handle everything from crypto regulation to capital formation. Securities is such a dynamic area of the law and so we are looking forward to the opportunity to learn more about the SEC’s agenda from the chairman himself.”
Atkins, who served as commissioner of the SEC from 2002-2008 and was sworn in as chair in April 2025, will visit Fordham at a time when the SEC has initiated significant changes that could reshape the crypto markets, according to Martella. Just this past August, Atkins announced the launch of the SEC’s “Project Crypto” to update the regulatory framework for digital assets and ease trade in these markets. This comes on the heels of the SEC’s February release of new guidance about shareholder proposals that will change the way companies handle new proposals. The Sommer Lecture presents an opportunity for the Fordham community to learn more about Atkins’ agenda for the SEC, which focuses on issues that affect how we teach, practice, and participate in the securities markets.
“This is an important time of transition in securities regulation, and I’m eager to hear Chairman Atkins’s unique perspective, as of course will be the hundreds of other members of the Fordham Law School community who will be in attendance,” said Professor Richard Squire, faculty director of the CLC.
The annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture on Corporate, Securities and Financial Law is an esteemed series that has featured many prolific voices in the field of securities law, including SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, Director of the SEC New York Regional Office Antonia Apps, SEC Director of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, and President and CEO of FINRA Robert Cook. Many of the previous years’ guest lecturers will be in attendance this year.
The event is open to the public and will be held at Fordham Law School, 150 West 62nd Street, in the Costantino Room on the second floor on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Please register here to attend.