Paul R. Eckert Joins William & Mary Law School as Professor of the Practice
Securities expert Paul R. Eckert J.D. ’96 will join the William & Mary Law School faculty as a Professor of the Practice beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year. Since 2022, he has taught securities regulation classes as an adjunct at the Law School.
Eckert was most recently a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Washington, where his practice focused on securities enforcement matters, securities litigation, and regulatory compliance counseling. He retired from the partnership in 2022.
While in private practice at WilmerHale, Eckert represented many of the world’s top financial services firms, corporations, and their leaders and executives in mission-critical investigations and enforcement proceedings by the SEC, the DOJ, state attorneys general and securities regulators, and foreign regulatory authorities.
Eckert has represented the Nation’s leading securities trading firms (including high frequency electronic market makers and FinTech firms), investment banks, and asset management firms in a variety of matters involving novel issues under federal and state securities laws.
Eckert also served as an Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, advising on judicial nominations and congressional and special counsel investigations. Prior to law school, he was a U.S. Navy Lieutenant onboard the USS Wasp, homeported in Norfolk, Virginia. He is a 1989 graduate of Tulane University.
“As a leading practitioner, Paul Eckert will bring a wealth of experience to William & Mary Law School’s classrooms,” said A. Benjamin Spencer, Dean of the Law School and Trustee Professor. “His ability to bridge the gap between theory and practice will greatly benefit all students interested in business and corporate law.”
The faculty appointment is something of a homecoming for Eckert, who is a 1996 graduate of the Law School and was a student of some of the same law professors he now counts as colleagues.
An active alumnus of the Law School, Eckert serves on the Board of Trustees for the William & Mary Law School Foundation, chairs the Investment Committee, and is a board member of the 1693 Partners Fund, the principal endowment vehicle for The College of William & Mary.
At William & Mary, Eckert will primarily teach securities courses, including a survey course in securities regulation and upper-level classes on broker-dealer and exchange regulation, investment management regulation, and securities enforcement.
“It is an honor to join the faculty of my alma mater,” Eckert said. “I look forward to introducing students to the importance of securities regulation, the domestic capital markets, and the critical roles played by securities lawyers in private practice, as in-house counsel, and as regulators.”
About William & Mary Law School
Thomas Jefferson founded William & Mary Law School in 1779 to train leaders for the new nation. Now in its third century, America’s first law school continues its historic mission of educating citizen lawyers who are