Federal Securities Law Research Guide: SEC

 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) consists of five presidentially-appointed Commissioners with staggered five-year terms. The President designates one of the Commissioners as Chairman, the Agency's Chief Executive.  By law, no more than three of the Commissioners may belong to the same political party, helping to ensure non-partisanship.  The agency's functional responsibilities are organized into five Divisions and multiple offices headquartered in Washington, D.C.  The Commission's approximately 3,500 staff are located in Washington and in Regional Offices throughout the country.  

Divisions: 

Division of Corporation Finance                  
Division of Trading and Markets
Division of Investment Management
Division of Enforcement
Division of Economic Risk and Analysis

 The Securites and Exchange Commission web site has links to:

• EDGAR(Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system
  • Database of full-text forms filed by companies with the SEC
• Regulatory Actions, such as
  • Proposed Rules (1994 - present; some pre-1994 rules) 
  • Interpretive Releases (interpretations of federal securities laws and SEC regulations; 1995 - present with limited number of pre-1995 interpretive releases)
• Staff Interpretations, such as
  • Staff Legal Bulletins
  • Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations
• Litigation activities, such as
  • Commission Opinions and Adjudicatory Orders (1996- )
  • Litigation Releases - Federal Court Actions (1995- )