Ms Olivia Choe > Milbank > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile

Ms Olivia Choe

Work Department

Litigation & Arbitration Group

Position

Partner

Career

Ms. Choe’s practice focuses on civil and criminal enforcement actions and complex, high-stakes litigation. She advises global financial institutions, public companies, and asset managers confronting complex enforcement matters, drawing on her nearly 15 years of experience as a government trial attorney, supervisor, and senior enforcement official. Before joining Milbank, she served as the Chief Litigation Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, and before that, as a federal criminal prosecutor in the Department of Justice. She has successfully first-chaired multiple civil and criminal federal jury trials and litigated enforcement actions in federal courts across the country.

As Chief Litigation Counsel for the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Ms. Choe oversaw the nationwide litigation and trial program, leading more than 150 trial attorneys throughout the country. She developed and directed litigation strategy across the enforcement docket, advising trial teams in a wide range of high-profile cases involving both individuals and entities. She provided strategic advice and guidance to Commission leadership and hundreds of enforcement staff on complex issues in a broad array of investigations and enforcement actions. During her tenure, Ms. Choe spearheaded the Enforcement Division’s response to many significant legal developments, frequently working with other key divisions and offices throughout the SEC. She also supervised staff responsible for returning nearly $1 billion annually to harmed investors.

Before joining the SEC in 2016, Ms. Choe was an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, where she prosecuted and tried numerous white-collar, violent crime, and child exploitation and human trafficking cases, and argued before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Prior to her government service, Ms. Choe was a white-collar and commercial litigator with an international law firm.

She is a two-time recipient of the SEC’s Arthur F. Mathews Award for creativity in applying the federal securities laws for the benefit of investors. Ms. Choe teachers a seminar on White Collar Crime at the George Washington University Law School and is a barrister in the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court. She was recently elected to serve on the Steering Committee of the Corporation, Finance, and Securities Law Community of the DC Bar. She is also an active member of the Federal Bar Council and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Memberships

She was recently elected to serve on the Steering Committee of the Corporation, Finance, and Securities Law Community of the DC Bar. She is also an active member of the Federal Bar Council and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Education

Ms. Choe graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University and received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for The Yale Law Journal.