The SEC announced yesterday that Division of Enforcement Associate Director Lawrence West is leaving the Commission to become a partner in the D.C. office of the law firm Latham & Watkins.  West notably oversaw the SEC's investigation and case against WorldCom.

At Securities Litigation Watch, we pride ourself on spotting trends and we think we're on to one here.  No, not Enforcement officials leaving for private practice--that's way too easy.  What we think we're seeing here is a trend of  Enforcement officials leaving for private practice based solely on the name of the law firm. 

Consider:  Former Director of Enforcement Stephen Cutler went to Wilmer Cutler in the fall of 2005.  Now just a few months later we have Lawrence West going to Latham & Watkins (LW.com) (where with any luck his new email address will be lw@lw.com).

So where does that leave the remaining top Enforcement officials?  Where might they be looking if they ever wish to return to private practice?  The early line based on this trend:

• Walter Ricciardi (Deputy Dir.): Wiley Rein
• Peter Bresnan (Deputy Dir.): Patton Boggs
• Paul Berger (Assoc. Dir. ): Patton Boggs; maybe plaintiffs' law firm Berger & Montague.
• Scott Friestad (Assoc. Dir.): Fried Frank; maybe plaintiffs' law firm Scott + Scott.
• Toni Chion (Assoc. Dir.): Thompson Coburn; maybe Alliance Capital (Ticker Symbol: AC) if she prefers a match for her full name, Antonia.

The toughest to find a suitably matching law firm for seems to be Director of Enforcement Linda Chatman Thomsen.  But what about going in-house at the Lincoln Center Theater (LCT.org)?  Or possibly General Counsel of Living Cell Technologies (LCT.com.au), "a fast growing public bioscience company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange?"

We'll be watching this trend closely.