{{Short description|American lawyer}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Andy Vollmer.jpg | image_size = | name = Andy Vollmer | caption = | office = General Counsel of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission<br>Acting | term_start = January 2009 | term_end = February 2009 | president = Barack Obama | 1blankname = {{Nowrap|Chair}} | 1namedata = Elisse B. Walter (acting)<br>Mary Schapiro | predecessor = Brian Cartwright | successor = David M. Becker | birth_name = Andrew Neill Vollmer | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|8|14}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Hubbell |first=Martindale |date=April 2003 |title=Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (Volume 4) |publisher=Martindale-Hubbell |page=DC928B |isbn=9781561605514 }}</ref> | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | education = University of Virginia (JD)<br>Miami University (BA) | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Lawyer }} '''Andrew Neill Vollmer''' (born August 14, 1953) is an American lawyer. He retired as partner in the securities department at law firm WilmerHale.<ref name=law360>{{Citation | title = Former SEC General Counsel Rejoins WilmerHale | url = http://www.law360.com/registrations/user_registration?article_id=95318&concurrency_check=false | publisher = Law360 | date = 2009-04-03 | access-date = 2009-04-14 }}</ref> Prior to April 2009, he had been Deputy General Counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)<ref name=sec060506/> and acting General Counsel.<ref name=qualters>{{Citation | last = Qualters | first = Sheri | title = SEC Taps Deputy GC as Acting GC | journal = National Law Journal | date = January 26, 2009 | url = http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202427706694 }}</ref> He succeeded Meyer Eisenberg as Deputy General Counsel, who retired from the Commission in early January 2006<ref name=sec060506/> and former General Counsel Brian Cartwright who left the Commission for the private sector in January 2009.<ref name=qualters/>

==Education== Mr. Vollmer received his J.D. in 1978 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor of the Virginia Law Review. He earned his B.A. from Miami University.<ref name=sec060506/>

==Before the SEC== He was previously a partner in the international law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where he served as Vice Chair of the firm's Securities Department and previously served as one of two partners managing the firm's London office. He is co-author of a monograph on "Internal Corporate Investigations."<ref name=sec060506>{{Citation | title = Andrew Vollmer Named SEC Deputy General Counsel | place = Washington, D.C. | publisher = Securities and Exchange Commission | date = June 5, 2006 | url = https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-86.htm }}</ref>

==Tenure at SEC== As acting General Counsel, Vollmer was quickly thrust into the news media's attention as he testified on February 4, 2009 before the United States House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee with SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement Linda Thomsen and other senior staff from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The subject of the hearings were on why the SEC had failed to act when Harry Markopolos, a private fraud investigator from Boston alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing his persistent and unsuccessful efforts to get the SEC to investigate Bernard L. Madoff, beginning in 1999.<ref name=henriques>{{Citation | last = Henriques | first = Diana | title = Anger and Drama at a House Hearing on Madoff | newspaper = The New York Times | date = February 4, 2009 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/business/05madoff.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=andy%20vollmer&st=cse }}</ref> Vollmer claimed executive privilege in declining to answer some questions,<ref name=jamieson>{{Citation | last = Jamieson | first = Dan | title = SEC officials dodge questions; one claims privilege | newspaper = InvestmentNews | date = February 4, 2009 | url =http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090204/REG/902049977 }}</ref><ref name=Ahrens>{{Citation | last = Ahrens | first = Frank | title = Lawmakers Sink Teeth Into the SEC: Agency Mocked for Not Catching Madoff | newspaper = The Washington Post | pages = D01 | date = February 5, 2009 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020403399.html }}</ref> and Vollmer and the other SEC officials' lack of cooperation with the enquiry was strongly criticised by Subcommittee chairman Paul Kanjorski and Representative Gary Ackerman.<ref name=henriques/><ref>{{cite book|last=Ahr|first=Ahmed|title=The Sheep and the Guardians: Diary of a SEC Sanctioned Swindle|year=2009|publisher=Trafford Publishing|location=Victoria, British Columbia|isbn=978-1426910319|page=300}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ahrens|first=Frank|title=SEC Evasion On Madoff Infuriates Lawmakers|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/02/madoff_whistleblower_sec_blew.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131011230151/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2009/02/madoff_whistleblower_sec_blew.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 11, 2013|access-date=11 October 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

On 18 February 2009, 14 days later, the SEC announced that Vollmer would 'leave the Commission and return to the private sector'.<ref>{{Citation | title = Acting General Counsel Andrew Vollmer to Leave SEC | publisher = U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | location = Washington, D.C. | date = Feb 18, 2009 | url = https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-28.htm | access-date = 6 March 2009 }}</ref> It was later announced that he would take up a post with his former firm, WilmerHale.<ref name=law360 />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090219053840/http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/sec_joint_testimony.pdf Written testimony (not a transcript)] * [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/05/cnr.07.html Transcript of CNN coverage of Vollmer testimony] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1cvNG-tOtg Video of Congressman Gary Ackerman questioning Andy Vollmer, SEC Acting General Counsel on claiming Executive Privilege]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vollmer, Andy}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:American lawyers Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni Category:Miami University alumni Category:Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners