Lots of top SEC lawyers are quitting, angry with Gensler's hardline approach to litigate cases SEC can't win, instead of settling. Gensler wants 34 additional lawyers to focus on new areas like Crypto

Many top SEC lawyers are turning their papers in and moving towards private practice, according to this article by Law360

A number of top lawyers from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have trickled to the exits over the past year, driven by what ex-SEC officials and legal recruiters say is not only a hot lateral market but also, in some cases, frustration over new leadership's aggressive enforcement tactics.

Some of the exits have stemmed at least partly from conflicts with SEC Chair Gary Gensler's approach to enforcement and his drive for more litigation and settlement penalties, according to two former senior SEC officials who have returned to private practice and an industry recruiter who has worked with attorneys leaving the agency.

Some of the lawyers who have quit the SEC have said the SEC cannot win the cases they want to litigate.

"I like to try cases; I also like to win," said a former SEC official who left to enter private practice. "I was looking down the pipeline at the types of cases that the SEC is going to bring and not seeing a path toward victory on the SEC side."

Apparently, Gensler has asked for a $2.1 BILLION budget for the SEC (!) just to enforce his agenda on various markets, including clamping down on crypto.

Its fucking insane that SEC needs $2.1 billion when people are struggling to fill their gas tanks and household savings rate has crashed to multi year lows. Also when the markets have taken a nosedive themselves.

How many more personal computer hours will $2.1 billion get SEC staffers?

In the budget request, the agency said the number of litigated cases is expected to rise and that it wants more officials working on areas like environment, crypto-asset markets and cyber-related risks.

Article might be under paywall:

https://www.law360.com/articles/1500034/frustration-hot-atty-market-drive-some-senior-exits-at-sec