Lance represents corporations, investment advisers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions, as well as boards and individuals, in a range of internal and government investigations, regulatory examinations and enforcement proceedings and litigation.

Prior to joining Akin, Lance served as senior counsel in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Los Angeles Regional Office. During his decade-long tenure at the Commission, Lance conducted complex, high-stakes investigations and litigation concerning investment adviser violations, insider trading, offering fraud, FCPA violations, public disclosures, FINRA and Nasdaq compliance, Ponzi schemes, broker-dealer registration, Bank Secrecy Act reporting, director independence, director compensation and accounting fraud. Notably, while at the SEC, he led a multiyear FCPA fraud case involving a multinational company, resulting in $1.8 billion in SEC remedies, one of the largest ever achieved by the agency.

Lance leverages his deep knowledge of the federal securities laws and intimate familiarity with the SEC and its processes, tactics and staff to his clients’ benefit—offering key insights to prevent misconduct before it occurs, minimize exposure and, if necessary, formulate an informed, strategic response to regulators. He also has extensive experience working closely with other regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Reserve, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), state securities regulators, and state and federal banking regulators.

Lance received his B.A. summa cum laude from Boston College and his J.D. with highest honors from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar. Prior to his tenure at the SEC, he was an associate in the litigation and bankruptcy groups of a leading Los Angeles-based law firm and clerked for Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in the Southern District of New York and Judge Pamela Ann Rymer in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.