Karen Woody Joins SEC Historical Society Board of Advisors Woody is among 13 new members to join the Board and will serve a three-year term.

By Law Communications
February 1, 2024

Washington and Lee University law professor Karen Woody has been appointed to the Board of Advisors for the Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society. Woody is among 13 new members to join the Board and will serve a three-year term.

The SEC Historical Society is a nonprofit entity that is independent of the SEC. The Society preserves and advances knowledge of the history of financial regulation through a virtual museum and an archive at its website, sechistorical.org. These online resources provide access to primary materials on the creation and growth of the regulation of the capital markets from the 20th century to the present.

“I have long admired the work of the SEC Historical Society,” said Woody. “It is an incredible resource, and I regularly assign my students to read and review the incredible archival material the Society makes available.”

Professor Woody is very active in advisory roles within the financial industry. Last year, she was named a fellow with the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators, a collaboration between public- and private-sector litigation professionals and the Basel Institute on Governance to promote worldwide access to solutions in cases of economic crime. In addition, she was appointed to a four-year term on the National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA is a government-authorized not-for-profit organization that works to ensure the integrity of financial markets through oversight of the more than 624,000 securities brokers and dealers across the country.

Professor Woody joined the W&L Law faculty in 2019. Her scholarship focuses on securities law, financial regulation, and white-collar crime. She has published her work in a number of journals including the American University Law Review, Arizona State Law Journal, Maryland Law Review, Stanford Law Review Online, Cardozo Law Review, Fordham Law Review, and the Journal of Corporation Law, among others. Her work on conflict minerals is widely cited, and she has testified for the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee regarding federal conflict minerals regulation.

Prior to joining W&L Law, Woody was on the faculty of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Prior to entering academia, she practiced law in Washington, D.C. at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, Bracewell LLP, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. In her practice, she advised corporate and individual clients on issues related to white collar crime and compliance issues, with a particular focus on international corruption, securities and accounting fraud, and internal corporate investigations. While practicing law, she also served as an adjunct professor and taught a variety of law courses at Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington Law School, and American University Washington College of Law.

Woody received her LL.M. with distinction in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center. She received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law, where she served on the American University Law Review. She also has a graduate degree in theology from Regent College (Vancouver, B.C.), and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

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