Overview

Kyle DeYoung is a partner in the Government, Regulatory & Internal Investigations Practice Group in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He focuses his practice on representing public companies, financial institutions, and individuals in regulatory investigations and providing clients with strategic counseling when facing complex regulatory issues, potential enforcement actions, and corporate crises. Kyle has extensive experience handling regulatory investigations, both in private practice and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is an experienced litigator who has tried cases in federal court and in administrative proceedings.

Kyle previously spent seven years at the SEC. Most recently, he was Senior Counsel to the Director of Enforcement, where he advised and assisted in the overall management of the SEC’s enforcement program and helped devise and implement policy and strategies to effectively enforce federal securities laws. He also served as Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel in the SEC Division of Enforcement’s Trial Unit, where he worked with enforcement staff to investigate potential violations of the federal securities laws and represented the SEC in enforcement actions in federal court and administrative proceedings.

Kyle has investigated and litigated potential violations of the securities laws in a broad range of areas, including disclosure issues, insider trading, market manipulation, broker-dealer and investment adviser regulations, compliance failures, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, accounting issues, auditor independence rules, requirements for tender offers, failure to supervise, structured financial products, and whistleblower issues. He has significant experience with legislative and regulatory issues and has provided subject matter insight to Congressional staff on a variety of topics including insider trading, market manipulation, stock buy-backs, activist investors, foreign companies listed on U.S. exchanges, administrative proceedings, public company disclosure requirements, the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, the Financial CHOICE Act and other issues.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Kyle was a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft. Before joining the SEC, he was an associate and counsel at WilmerHale. Kyle clerked for the Honorable Suzanne B. Conlon of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Kyle received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.

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Thought Leadership

Publications

“An Analysis of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Liu v. SEC,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May, 2020

“The Tipping Point – Possible Shakeup to Insider Trading Rules,” Bloomberg Law Insight, October 2019

“INSIGHT: Five Things Every Company Should Know About SEC Whistleblowers,” Bloomberg Law, Insight, August 2019

“Yahoo Settlement Changes SEC Expectations on Cyber Disclosure,” Bloomberg Law Privacy and Security Law Report, June 2018

“Outside Counsel May Face Criminal Liability in Complex Business Cases,” New York Law Journal, White Collar Crime, January 2018

Press Mentions

“Madoff’s ‘Seismic Shift’ on SEC, Compliance Still Felt Today,” Law360, April 2021

“PRIMER: Regulation Best Interest,” International Finance Law Review, April, 2021

“No, Volkswagen Isn’t Rebranding Itself Voltswagen,” Wall Street Journal, March 2021

“SEC Eyes Securities Lending, Short Selling in Exam Priorities," International Finance Law Review, March 2021

“SEC Signals a More Aggressive Stance Toward Wall Street,” Wall Street Journal, February 2021

“Gensler Expected To Be An Aggressive Enforcer As SEC Chair,” Law360, January 2021

“SEC Cuts Accountant Slack For Self-Reporting Insider Trading,” Law360, June 2020

“Donald Trump Grants Clemency to Milken and Blagojevich,” Financial Times, February 2020

“Supreme Court Says SEC Judges Improperly Appointed,” Financial Times, June 2018

“CFTC Enforcement Head on Criticism of Self-Reporting Policy,” International Finance Law Review, December 2017

“Broken Windows, Admissions and Stale Conduct: The State of Enforcement at the SEC,” The Anti-Corruption Law Report, November 2017

Seminars

“Insider Trading 360° – Enforcement Trends and Key Cases, Prosecutions, and Legislation,” Securities Enforcement Forum 2021, November 2021

“Lessons from Recent Compliance Failures,” Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, January 2020

“SEC’s Whistleblower Bounty Program: Best Practices for Compliance Investigation and Responding to Whistleblowers” Lorman Educational Services, March 2019

Speaking Engagements

Co-Chair, Cambridge Forum on SEC Enforcement, October 2021, May 2021, and December 2020

Recognition

Recognized in Corporate Investigations and white-Collar Criminal Defense, The Legal 500 U.S., 2022–2023

Memberships & Affiliations

District of Columbia Bar Association

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Member of Adjudication Advisory Group

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • District of Columbia
  • Illinois (inactive)

Courts

  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • United States District Court for the District of Maryland

Education

  • University of Michigan Law SchoolJ.D.cum laude1999
  • University of MichiganB.A.1995