Alumni News, CAPA

From S.E.C. to Whistle-Blower Defender

Once an S.E.C. regulator, now thriving as a lawyer for whistle-blowers, Jordan Thomas '92 has built one of the top legal practices in the country defending those who expose corporate wrongdoing. 

Jordan Thomas

The New York Times recently profiled Thomas, whose journey has taken him from a dance student at Bennington, to law school, and later to the S.E.C. and his own unconventional practice. 

After leaving the S.E.C. in 2011, "People thought I was crazy not to go into a big corporate defense practice where I could make a lot of money," Thomas said, but his work has since paid off.

On March 19, the S.E.C. announced two awards totaling $83 million, with the money coming from a fund established by Congress that is financed by the fines paid by violators. Mr. Thomas said three clients of his firm, Labaton Sucharow, would collect the awards for alerting the agency to wrongdoing at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit, which led to Merrill’s paying $415 million to settle the case in June 2016.

I remember a lot of anger, uncertainty and restlessness in him but also real ambition. 

Susan Sgorbati, as quoted in The New York Times.