Andrew N. Vollmer

Background

Andrew Neill Vollmer was born on August 14, 1953. His later legal career centered on securities regulation, a field shaped by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was created in 1934 to administer the federal securities laws.

Education

Vollmer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University, a public university in Oxford, Ohio, founded in 1809.

He then earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1978. Founded in 1826, the Charlottesville law school is among the oldest law schools in the United States. During his studies, Vollmer served as Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review, the school's student-edited journal.

Career

Before 2006, Vollmer was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, a firm formed in 2004 through the merger of the Boston firm Hale and Dorr and the Washington firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Hale and Dorr had been founded in Boston in 1918, while Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, established in Washington in 1962, took its name from partners including Lloyd Cutler and John Pickering.

At the firm, Vollmer was vice chair of the Securities Department and one of two partners managing the London office. His practice concentrated on securities enforcement, private securities litigation and internal investigations, and he co-authored a monograph on internal corporate investigations.

In 2006 he joined the Securities and Exchange Commission as Deputy General Counsel. The Office of the General Counsel advises the Commission on enforcement actions, rulemakings, appellate briefs and adjudications, and provides legal services to the agency's staff. When Brian Cartwright left the agency in January 2009, Vollmer was named Acting General Counsel, serving as the Commission's chief legal officer.

Vollmer testified on February 4, 2009, before a House of Representatives committee. In February 2009 the SEC announced that he would leave the Commission and return to the private sector. He then rejoined WilmerHale as a partner in its Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group, and he later retired from the partnership.

Vollmer later joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law as Professor of Law on the General Faculty and served as director of the John W. Glynn, Jr. Law & Business Program. He has taught courses on securities regulation and on SEC and class action enforcement of the federal securities laws.

In a 2006 statement on his appointment, Vollmer described the SEC's mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation as critically important to the nation.

Achievements

• As a securities enforcement practitioner, he persuaded the staff of the SEC Division of Enforcement not to recommend an enforcement proceeding against a client after a long and difficult investigation. He described this outcome as uncommon and as evidence that his colleagues and he added value for clients.

Works

• book chapter

  • Internal Corporate Investigations

    (Chapter co-authored with Stephen F. Black, Stewart F. Del...)

    2019

• law review article

  • Accusers as Adjudicators in Agency Enforcement Proceedings

    (Article in volume 52 of the University of Michigan Journa...)

    2018

Views

Vollmer has emphasized the value of fundamental common-law doctrines. In an interview, he said that basic concepts such as causation, conditions and mens rea provided the starting point for understanding modern legal questions during his years of practice.

References

• Andrew Vollmer Named SEC Deputy General Counsel Securities and Exchange Commission announcement of Vollmer's appointment as Deputy General Counsel, summarizing his partnership at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, including his London office role, and his education.
  2006
• Andrew Vollmer Named Acting General Counsel of SEC Securities and Exchange Commission announcement of Vollmer's appointment as Acting General Counsel, describing his prior role as vice chair of the Securities Department at his former firm.
  2009
• Andy Vollmer Encyclopedia article covering Vollmer's birth date, education, service as Deputy and Acting General Counsel of the SEC, and his career as a partner at WilmerHale.
• Faculty Focus: Corporate Law University of Virginia School of Law faculty profile describing Vollmer's service as deputy general counsel at the SEC, his partnership in WilmerHale's securities practice, and his leadership of the Law & Business Program.
  2018