The top lawyer for the Securities Industry Association is stepping down from the association to go into private practice. Stuart Kaswell will leave the SIA in mid-September to take a position at Dechert, according to the trade group. The forty-eight-year-old will reportedly head the broker-dealer practice at the law firm.

The SIA has not named a replacement for Kaswell, but stated that SIA has a "talented team of lawyers and support staff that he assembled and who will continue SIA's legal advocacy."

Kaswell has been the general counsel and senior vice president for the SIA since January of 1994 when he joined the trade group from Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. Prior to that he was minority counsel on the House Energy and Commerce Committee from 1986 to 1990. Earlier in his career he spent seven years at the SEC.

"Stuart did an outstanding job at SIA for nearly ten years," said Marc Lackritz, president of the SIA in a statement. "He served as the securities industry's chief lawyer during a dynamic time, when investors first began trading by means of the Internet, when the industry switched to decimal pricing, and during the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act. His efforts demonstrated his commitment to investors, to our firms, and to our markets. Stuart worked with legislators, regulators, and member firms to modernize securities law and regulation to address this changing environment."  

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